Shadow of a Romance
by AleatoryW
Summary: When Obi-wan faces Asajj Ventress, who he believed to be dead, both realize their true feelings for eachother, which can lead only to trouble. Meanwhile, Ahsoka decides to be a reporter, Rex falls for Aayla, and Anakin discovers his life is insane.
1. Prolouge: The Task

**Alright! I've had this story floating about my head for a year or so, and I've just typed it. I hope you enjoy this; it comes directly after the Obsession series. Also, I am the kind of person who likes happy endings, so I have taken the liberties of changing almost all of Star Wars history.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Asajj Ventress, Obi-wan Kenobi, or any of these characters. **

Prologue

"I want you to watch a prisoner for awhile." the hologram Dooku announced, with his usual arrogance.

"Of course, master." responded Asajj Ventress, assassin, and future sith. at least, she wanted to be. Sure, she could watch a captive. what did Dooku think she was, a padawan?

"The droids will bring you Kenobi later today." he continued, as if he hadn't even heard that she had agreed, because she always followed orders as best as she could, although recently, she had seen him say the word 'failure' quite often after her missions. But one word of what he had just said stuck out in her mind.

"Kenobi?" She instantly began searching for some way out of the assignment. If Kenobi was involved, there would be trouble. Kenobi had always been a nuisance to her, especially because, unlike the other Jedi, he actually seemed to care what happened to her. He was annoying. Charming, but annoying. Maybe he annoyed her just because he didn't hate her, like everyone else she'd met. she was accustomed to hate, annoyance, and dislike, and his kind words were, well, nice, but maddening, because he was a Jedi and basically her worst enemy. And of course there were those irritating questions that kept popping up in her mind whenever she saw him or thought of him, both of which happened far too frequently for her liking. Did Kenobi dislike her, or like her? Or like-like her? Did she _want_ him to like her? _Or_ like-like her? What would it be like to kiss him? This thought was always where she told herself she was stupid, and forced herself to think about something else.

Asajj had especially been thinking about him ever since she had faked her own death. It had been a plan between her and her master, that she would pretend she was dying, then strike down Kenobi at the last second. Unfortunately, Anakin had gotten in the way, and she had to fake her death totally to escape being taken prisoner. But in the last few seconds of her "life", Obi-wan had gently lifted her up in his arms, not showing any thirst for revenge. She had even kept the old cloak, his cloak, that he had wrapped around her like a burial cloth. She didn't really have any use for an old, tattered Jedi cloak. But she had kept it just the same. She had cried then, too. Both of them had. She had known, deep down, that she probably would never see him again, as her master said it was better for her to let the Jedi think she was dead. For that matter, Kenobi still probably thought she _was _dead. But her master had begun to speak, so she turned her attention back towards him in time to catch the last few words of what he had said.

"...our guest, and I expect you to do it."

"Sorry, could you say that again?"

His scowl deepened. "I said, We must show hospitality to our guest, and I expect you to do it." Ventress scowled right back at him. That meant he wanted her to torture him, something she hated doing. But then again, She wanted to see the look on his face when she strode into the room, alive and perfectly healthy. Just seeing Kenobi would be pleasurable. Because she _didn't _like him. Or like-like him. Didn't _Got it? You do not like him._ she thought firmly. Kenobi couldn't charm his way around her.

"Fine. And you will come for him...?"

"About three hours later, when my ship arrives."

"I'll be ready."

"Don't let him escape you this time."

Ventress felt the need to protest. "He's impossible to contain, Master, of course I hate watching him. He always has some sort of scheme and gets away with his life." Well of course he got away with his life, she reflected, how else would he get away, dead?

"Ventress, I trust that this assignment will end better then your last one."

She sighed. "Yes, Master."


	2. Chapter 1: Still Alive

Chapter 1

"Cody!" Obi-wan yelled into his communicator.

"Here sir!" came the reply.

"Have the men retreat."

"What about you, General?"

"Oh, I'll manage. take my starfighter with you."

"Uhh...yes, Sir!" Cody said, rather hesitantly, and the communicator snapped off.

"Silence." droned one of the super battle droids surrounding him. There was a whole ring surrounding him, way too many for him to take on, even with his lightsaber. Obi-wan Kenobi, Jedi master and general of the republic, was, once again, trapped and taken alive. This was usually when a general would come out and speak to him. not Grievous, talking wasn't his style; someone like Dooku, or Ventress... It took him a second to realize that he couldn't expect to see her, she was dead. Her name brought pain. It was not the same kind of pain he had felt from the numerous wounds, tortures, and near deaths she had given him, but the pain of loss, the pain he was banned from feeling. He had been certain there was still something left in Asajj that Dooku had not yet turned to hatred. When he told this story to anyone however, the results were discouraging. Cody: _"Um, if you say so, Sir."_ Ahsoka: _"The Bog Witch? no, I don't think so Master."_ Anakin's response was worst of all; he had started laughing, before he realized his master wasn't kidding. _"What? Oh...you're being serious here? sorry. It's just kind of unbelievable...no offence Master, but she's just pure evil."_ Two super battle droids grabbed his arms and began dragging him towards the nearest ship. So they weren't coming to him, he was going to be brought to them.

A short flight later, he was dragged into a large Separatist fortress: down hallways, through doors, and finally into the main room of the base, where they dropped him to the floor. Obi-wan started to get up, but one of the droids pushed him back to the ground. _I guess we're talking from the floor then _he thought, although flat on his back was not how he preferred to confer with enemies, or with anyone for that matter. A door on the opposite end of the room hissed open, and Obi-wan had to crane his neck and tilt his head backwards to see whoever had entered, but it was simply another battle droid. "Count Dooku wants to speak with you." said the droid, before it left the same way it had come. he looked up at the super battle droids towering over him, muttering among themselves.

"Is Dooku coming then?" he asked one, rather hesitantly. Super battle droids could be very strong, and he wasn't sure if they liked being asked questions.

"Count Dooku wants to speak with you." it repeated. he looked into it's glowing red eyes and realized that the stupidest thing in the galaxy was not a Kwonikin monkey lizard, but a super battle droid. The door hissed open again, and he again tipped his head backwards to see. It wasn't Dooku who entered, nor another battle droid. Rather, he gasped to see the slim form of Asajj Ventress, assassin, dark force trainee, and his beloved. _Wait, what? _

"Hello, Kenobi. What's the matter? Surprised?" Obi-wan just stared back at her. "Expecting Dooku? Well don't worry. He'll be here." she smirked down at him.

"You're dead. I mean, you're not dead, you're right here. But I thought you were, and..." Obi-wan stumbled over the words, eyes wide with astonishment. He couldn't believe this was happening. It was great, but astonishing, and...was she still working for Dooku? After he ordered her killed and nearly did kill her? Obi-wan's thoughts came even more clumsily and rapidly then his words.

"Ever wonder how a magnagaurd didn't kill with one shot? It was planned. I get shot, you being the gallant fool you are, would come help me, and then I kill you. Only Skywalker hindered the plan at the last second." Blast Skywalker anyway. If it weren't for him, she would have carried out her mission and killed Kenobi. Did she want that? What a dumb question-he was a Jedi-of course she did! Didn't she?

"So you never left the darkness behind you?"

"I did once I left the jedi order. Now I am free from your ridiculous code."

Obi-wan's heart sank at her answer. maybe Anakin was right. maybe she was fully evil.

"So what are you doing here? Just come to see me before I escape you again?"

"Not exactly. I'm only watching you until my master's ship lands."

"You're in command?"

"I'm completely in control of everything in this base, including you."

"I don't fear you Asajj."

"Ha! you will."

"It's you who fears me, darling"

"As if I'd fear anyone as helpless as you."

"Helpless, am I?"

"Just try to escape. You can't." Ventress felt a rush of pride, pleased to see that Kenobi was completely at her mercy, not that she'd give him any. For once, she had the upper hand; there was nothing the Jedi could do to get away. And yet...yet, he still kept up his stream of witty comments, still had that look on his face that said he was winning: eyebrows raised, blue eyes sparkling with humor, lips turned up into a smirking grin. It was the look that always made her stomach quiver, like it was quivering now. She had always before accredited it to nerves, but how could she be nervous now, with Kenobi laying at her feet held down by two of her droids? _Maybe you like him. _No! That answer was _not_ why she felt like this!

"And, until my Master arrives, I am free to do what I like to you. Droids!" at her command, the two droids holding him down suddenly lifted him up and threw him across the room, and an electrocution device caught his ankles and wrists. Obi-wan grimaced. he'd had experience with a device like this, and it was painful, naturally, which was why it was used in torture. Asajj was going to electrocute him? _Quite a way to tell him it was good to see him again, after so-_

Obi-wan's thought stopped as a current of electricity ran through his body. As Asajj had expected, he let out a piercing scream. She got no pleasure out of it; the gloating feeling she had felt before was gone, and her stomach was no longer pleasantly quivering. Rather it was tightly clenched as she tried to keep the sound of his pain out of her head. The device stopped, and Asajj could hear Obi-wan breathing heavily for a few seconds. He glanced at her, but she didn't notice; she was staring at the floor. Obi-wan screamed in pain again as the droid at the control panel started it back up. This was torture for _her,_ she realized. It brought back memories, none pleasant, of her own torturings. Come to think of it, she _had _no pleasant memories. Suddenly she could take it no more.

"Stop!" she yelled. the droids obeyed her command instantly; again she could hear Obi-wan breathing heavily. He glanced at her again, and this time his gaze met hers. She looked away, feeling ashamed of her brave words before, and at the same time, ashamed that she had done this to him.

"Drop him."

"But Sir! Ma'am! Commander? Mistress? Comm..." the droid tried out different titles, apparently unsure if he should call her 'sir' or come up with a new name. She cut him off.

"Who's in command? I said drop him, and you haven't." she snapped. The droid was personally motivated to obey her; failure to obey meant demotion, the worst punishment was being sent out to the front lines of battle. Obi-wan dropped to the floor. His face gave away his pain, though he was silent.

"Take him to a cell." She had no intent of letting him get away, despite her moment of - could it be? - mercy. the super battle droids, not being smart enough to protest, again grabbed Kenobi's arms and dragged him out the door. Obi-wan looked back at her questioningly.

"If he dies from that my Master will kill me" she muttered, partly to Kenobi, partly to the droids, partly to herself. But Obi-wan suddenly saw, written on her ashamed face, that she hated torture. Either that, or she had a soft spot for him... No. She hates jedi. But it proved his point. There's still good left in her! she doesn't want me tortured. Despite his aching body, despite the fact that super battle droids were hauling him off to who knows where, despite the fact that there was a good chance this adventure would leave him dead, Obi-wan felt a flare of triumph. Take that, Anakin!


	3. Chapter 2: Ahsoka's new career

**This is my first time writing for Ahsoka, so I hope it sounds in character. I enjoy writing Asajj and Obi-wan scenes better, but the Anakin**

**and Ahsoka ones are good too, and they're funny, so here's chapter 2!**

**Disclaimer: My rights to Anakin and Ahsoka are the same as my rights to Obi-wan and Asajj: zero.**

* * *

Chapter 2

"Hey Master!" called Ahsoka, heading down the hallway near their rooms in the Temple. She had the fortune of having a room right next to her Master: good when she wanted to find him, good when she wanted to annoy him, but bad when he wanted to find her or annoy her, and bad when Anakin and _his _master were doing what they did best: arguing, under the pretext of playing chess. Obi-wan's suite was on the other side of Anakin's, and on the opposite side of hallway 28 were rooms 28-2, 28-4, and 28-6, occupied by Barriss Offee, Luminara Unduli, and an empty room.

"Master!" she yelled again.

"What!" His voice was muffled from inside his room.

"Come out here! I want to tell you something!"

"Tell me now!" He yelled back.

"No!" she didn't want to shout the whole conversation through a door.

"Then I don't want to hear it!"

"Okay. I'll just go tell that to Master Yoda..." That always got his attention. And this time it wasn't lying, Master Yoda actually had given her some information about where she and her master would be going, although it wasn't an official briefing.

BANG. "Stupid door!" Anakin's voice sounded much closer now.

"Well, if you'd quit locking it and then trying to open it by _pounding _on it, it wouldn't do that! It's you're own fault that door is broken, Sky-guy!" Geez, her master was stupid sometimes.

She heard the lock clicking open, and the door finally slid open, making a sound that was unlike every other door in the Temple, even though they had been all the same to begin with. A few sparks shot out from it. Ahsoka rolled her eyes, as she did so often when Anakin was involved. He was a good Master, a superb fighter, and the best pilot she, no, _anyone_ had ever met, but he was a pain, and loads of fun to annoy.

"Alright, Snips, watcha wanna tell me?"

"We're going to Mustafar once Obi-wan gets back..." Anakin was getting that wild-eyed crazy 'Someone's-been-captured-and-they-won't-let-me-go-look-for-them-but-I'm-okay-thanks-for-asking-even-though-you-didn't' look again, and she wished she hadn't said that. Cody had told them just this morning that Anakin's master, Obi-wan Kenobi, had been captured. Anakin was not supposed to be attached to his master, so he tried to appear calm, but he had been on edge ever since the Counsel had turned down his request to search out his master.

"I'm sure he's fine. Obi-wan's come back from situations like this time after time." Anakin still looked worried. "Hey, he has a survival rating of 100%!" Anakin grinned.

"We all do Snips. As long as we're alive we do." He paused. "What if he's not?" Aaaand he was panicking again.

"He's assigned to the mission, so the Counsel must think he's coming back."

"They brought back his ship! he's probably stranded right now!" Anakin imagining his master stranded was better then him imagining his master dead, so Ahsoka didn't counter that argument. "I wonder who has him..." Anakin said softly, his voice trailing off.

"Well, we know it's not the Bog Witch!" said Ahsoka happily. The Bog Witch was the name she and master had always used to refer to Asajj Ventress, an assassin who had recently been killed.

"That is true." Anakin's face perked a bit. "At least that's one thing off my list of worries."

"Which is thiiiiiiiiiiiis long!" Ahsoka held her arms out as far as she could. "And half of 'em are just about _The Senator_!" She gushed in a sing-song voice. Her master had major affections for Senator Amadala, something that was excellent teasing material.

"You keep your yap shut about her!"

"Okay! Okay! Just listen! after we take out the base, we head to Genosis to put down a growing force _there_, and then..."

"A force? Is that like a pun?"

"No, it's not a pun, it's just a word. The other thing I have to tell you is..."

"No, what do we do then?"

"What?" Not only was he stupid sometimes, but half the time he wasn't, he made no sense, at least, he didn't make sense to her.

"You said 'then'. What do we do then?"

"Attack some ship. Just listen! This is important!"

"Sure it is." he muttered under his breath. Ahsoka shot him a look, but decided her news was too important to scold him and risk getting sidetracked again.

"I've decided that I am an _official_ Doctor of Love." She declared importantly.

"What? Ahsoka, you're a Jedi!"

"I can hold down two jobs at once. Especially because half the time we just lounge around here anyway."

"You're supposed to meditate." He was getting the 'I'm-you're-master-and-you-have-to-listen-to-me-whether-you-like-it-or-not-and-I-always-know-and-do-better-then-you-anyway' look in his eyes again.

"Like you ever _meditate_!" she shot back. "I'm going to make pairings, you know, like an online dating service, except right here in the Temple!"

"Snips, you know no one in their right mind would hire you."

"Well, why not?" Anakin, of course, couldn't just say, '_That's great Ahsoka.'_ and walk away. He had to find a loophole.

"Uh, in case you haven't noticed, Jedi can't have attachments."

"I certainly wouldn't learn it from you! and besides Master, they're considering lifting that rule. You should remember that, even if you can't remember anything else. You know, _The Senator_?" Ahsoka opened her eyes dreamily and batted her eyes at her master.

"I said to shut up about her!"

"Young Love!" laughed Ahsoka, then skipped off down the hallway, leaving her master glaring at the back of her head.

* * *

**So, did they sound real? please tell me!**


	4. Chapter 3: Unlikely Allies

******AN: thanks to Jedi-dreamer101, Shanowa, ArmedWithAPen, Terra Young, and ArmedWithAPen again for reveiwing the previous chapters of this little adventure. This one's a little long, but long is better then too short in my opinion, so here you go!**

* * *

Chapter 3

Ventress stood still for a minute, gazing at the door he had just been dragged through. She felt immensely relieved, and at the same time, immensely guilty. Her master had never said _specifically_ to torture him, but still... A few droids were gazing at her, probably just because there was nothing else to look at in the room, but she felt as though they were criticizing her, accusing her of being weak, demanding an explanation. Her very short temper snapped.

"Leave!" she hollered, waving a hand in the general direction of the door. The regular battle droids, being somewhat clever, all walked out the door she had instructed them to. The super battle droids, however, stood around stupidly, waiting for more specific instructions. She let out a snort of frustration. "Go guard the hanger!" This time they listened.

Suddenly the holo-comunicator beeped, and she walked over to answer it, dreading the talk with her master.

"Yeeees?" she asked, hoping he was in a good mood.

"You have received Kenobi?"

"Yes." She hoped this was all he wanted to ask.

"And you're torturing him?"

Blast, why had he had to ask that? What was she supposed to say here? Fudge it? Tell him that she had, but couldn't stand his pain? That would sound ridiculous, weak. Tell him she didn't want him dead? Yeah, she'd better go with that.

But he took her silence as a 'no'. "You didn't did you." He was frowning deeper now, and she could tell that he wasn't asking a question, but making a statement.

"Yes, I did!" she raised her chin slightly, proud that she wasn't actually lying.

"You aren't torturing him nowthough are you?"

Blast, he could tell she wasn't _exactly_ telling the truth. "Well...I didn't want him to die, and then you'd never get to talk to him..."

"Ventress, he was delivered to you less then half an hour ago. He's in no danger of dying. You've always been weak about torture, and now you simply don't want to do as you're instructed.

"You instructed me to not let him escape, and he's still our prisoner!" She felt a flash of anger. She was following instructions exactly- how dare he say she was being rebellious!

"You are too weak Ventress, and of no value as an apprentice." He ended the communication abruptly,

Worthless? He had, in his own way, said she was worthless. Of no value. _Nothing._ Dooku was the only person who thought she was of some use, and now apparently no one in the whole universe cared if she was dead or alive. Perhaps she would be better off dead. No more misery, bad memories, failures, nothing. Nothingness was a lovely thought- she closed her eyes and thought of nothing.

Meanwhile, Obi-wan drew his blade and cut a careful hole in the door of his cell, beheaded the few battle droids standing outside, and then paused to weigh his options. Right was the hanger, left was Ventress, who he was now convinced could be brought back to the light side. Hanger, safety. Ventress, danger and likely death. Hanger, smart move. Ventress, foolish, risky move. Hanger, back to ordinary boring life. Ventress...who knew what would happen? He grinned. Grinned and headed left.

Many twist and turns later, he finally found the door to the main room. He took a deep breath, but then scolded himself. For all he knew, she had already left. Why should she hang around in the main room of the ship all day? And he shouldn't care if she was there. He had no attachment to her. _None._ He slid open the door by hand, making no sound. Sitting in the center of the room, her back to him. No movement, as though she were meditating, though as far as he knew, Sith didn't meditate.

"Asajj?" he breathed, almost half afraid to disturb her. She whirled, eyes wide, then she calmed back down.

"Ah, Kenobi. Here to rub in Dooku's insults are you?"

"Insults?"

"Yes, his 'failure of an apprentice' jibes. I'm sure you'd love to expound on that for me." she snarled.

"No, not at all- I was just curious as to why you're sitting on the floor with your eyes closed." There was a tiny hint of amusement in his voice. "And I don't think you're a worthless apprentice, actually. You're pretty good. I know you could do great things, if you would only come back to the light…"

Not this again. Not the 'welcome back to the light' jabber… Asajj thought in frustration, when a thought suddenly hit her- What the Hoth was Obi-wan even doing here? Force, had the idiot battle droids not taken away his lightsaber? You had to explain everything to them! _If they had eyes, I'd have to remind them to blink,_ she thought. A good spar would be nice, so she decided she'd recapture him the old fashioned way: without calling in all the droids standing outside the door on the side wall.

"Very well, I'll do something great." She stood up, smiling slightly, the kind of smile that said 'You're-_so_-dead-you-just-don't-know-it-yet'. "I'll begin by killing you!" She wasn't actually going to kill him, she reflected, as she ignited her other lightsaber and sprung at him, but 'kill' sounded so much more dramatic then 'recapture'. Obi-wan whipped out his own blade, blocking her blow. She slashed at him aggressively, but he blocked both her red lightsabers with his blue one. They pushed eachother back and forth across the room as they fought, like a reverse tug of war, gaining here, losing there. Unfortunately, she was losing. She might have to call in the droids after all. Her back was nearly to the wall. She took advantage of this situation by jumping against it, and kicking out. Her foot hit its target exactly, knocking Obi-wan's lightsaber right out of his hand. She brought both her lightsabers down towards his head, knowing he would do some sort of impressive duck-and-jump move, but instead he caught her wrists and pinned them to the wall. She really should have seen that coming, she thought, as she struggled to free her arms, as he had used the move on her before. Obi-wan was too strong, and his closeness made her shiver, but she hurriedly thought up a new plan.

I don't think, so, darling." he smiled, and at first she thought he was reading her mind and telling her that her plan wouldn't work. _That _definitely freaked her out. Then she realized she had meant her idle threat of killing him, and scolded herself for thinking he could do anything as ridiculous as read her mind.

"You've forgotten something, my dear." She smirked at him,

"What?" she saw a look of confusion flash over his face momentarily. She suddenly swung one of her feet forward and tripped him. He stumbled, released her wrists, caught himself, and force-pulled his lightsaber back to his hand, but Asajj took advantage of his momentary loss of balance to attack again. His lightsaber locked with one of hers while he dodged the blows from her other lightsaber, but with only one hand holding off his weapon, she had to drop her other lightsaber and use both hands to hold off his. With only one lightsaber, he slowly gained the upper hand as he again pushed her backwards across the room, then he reached out and grabbed her lightsaber with his other hand and pulled it away from her. It was such a sudden move Obi-wan managed to pry it out of her hand**. **

"Surrender?" he asked. He was breathing heavily from their fight, a bead of sweat trickling down his face. He had actually defeated Ventress! She was, by far, one of the best opponents he had ever faced, and certainly the only one he thought could be redeemed. He couldn't picture Grievous or Dooku letting him off a torturing, either. Asajj was simply different.

"Do I really have any other choice?" she snarled. She couldn't believe she had lost. And Kenobi certainly wouldn't kill her, which would almost be preferable to the humiliation of being taken back to the Republic jail and having to face her master afterward. She'd just have to call in the droids and hope they weren't complete idiots, and hope they wouldn't tell any of this-torture, fight, anything-to her master. The droids however, apparently decided that they should see what was going on now that the sound of the duel was over. The door slid open.

"The Jedi is baaaaack! Aaaaaahhhhh!" One fled the room screaming, leaving the others looking after him, confused. The rest of the droids turned back to face the two force-sensitives standing in the room, one with two lightsabers, the other with none. Only this time, _she _was the defenseless one. She was extremely glad her master wasn't here to see this-unless of course he was watching, and the whole thing was a test, in which case she was pretty sure she had failed.

The droids began to fire, and Obi-wan snapped into action, launching at the droids, which were extremely bad shots. Behind him, he was aware that Asajj was tapping her foot impatiently. However, as he got closer, they panicked and their shots got more and more erratic. And two of those shots went wrong. Very wrong. One hit the control panel behind him, which let out a loud hiss. Obi-wan ignored it and continued slashing through the droids. That's when he heard Asajj scream. He whirled just in time to see her drop to the floor.

"Asajj!" he shouted, terrified of the worst: Asajj might be dead. He shouldn't have such a strong feeling, as it was banned by the Jedi code, but all he knew, at that moment, was that he didn't want her dead. He sliced the last droid apart, trying to suppress his anger, as that also was against the code. Turning around, Obi-wan dashed across the room and dropped down at her side.

"Darling..." he whispered softly, looking into her face and laying a hand on her shoulder, desperately hoping she would stir, say something, even punch him, anything to show she was still living.

"I'm fine." she muttered, shrugging his hand off her shoulder and sitting up, gazing down at her shin. Purple blood was trickling out of the bullet wound, and, as much as she liked to pretend that she was invincible to pain, it stung like fire. She was slightly annoyed that Obi-wan had called her 'darling', yet at the same time, flattered. She hated conflicting emotions. It was bad enough they came one at a time, but when they opposed eachother? What was she supposed to think then, for force's sake? _Life is too blasted complicated_, she thought to herself.

"You're sure?" he asked again. Her gaze was still on the wound on her leg, but he was staring at her face.

"Blast it, I said I'm fine, so..." She began sharply, turning to look at him, but her voice trailed off. Wow. He had gorgeous eyes. A bright blue, hints of green here and there, alight with something she could only call concern. If this had been anyone else, she wouldn't have been so entranced, but Obi-wan...

He looked away first, moving his gaze to her wound. "Not good." He murmured looking down at her right shin. The Jedi stood up, then held out a hand, which she took hesitantly, and helped her up. She tested her leg while Obi-wan walked over to the control panel, glancing down at it casually. Well, she was definitely going to the medical bay for this one. And she wasn't walking there either, she'd need a stretcher, or at least a droid to lean on.

Obi-wan turned around, eyes wide with panic. "Asajj, the base is going to self destruct!"

"How long do we have to get out?" she asked casually as if this were an every day, common experience. Then again, maybe it was for her.

"Fifty eight seconds." She glanced at the screen.

"Minutes, Obi-wan, fifty-eighty minutes."

"Oh." Slight pause. "Good." was his response.

"So go on then, Obi-wan, go get your ship." Seeing his look of surprise, she added, "You've won the duel, I'll let you go."

"What about you?"

"I'm staying here."

"What?"

"I'm not going to spend the remaining fifty-" here she glanced at the screen again, "Seven minutes of my life hobbling through hallways. I'm just going to sit here and relax."

"If you stay here I'm staying here." He folded his arms stubbornly. Obi-wan was most certainly not going to leave her here, waiting for her death.

She rolled her eyes in response. "Obi-wan, if I come with you, you probably won't make it. Just go."

"Nope." She could see a hint of a smirk on his face.

"Ughh, why am I the only one around here who's not an idiot?"

"I don't know. Maybe because the Separatists are idiots?" His answer was totally serious.

"That was a rhetorical question."

"I know. But will you come then? We're wasting time."

"Fine." Asajj snarled, scowling. Obi-wan was possibly the last person she wanted to spend what were possibly her dying moments with, either that, or the first. She wasn't quite sure, and she hated conflicting emotions.

"Come on, then!" Obi-wan's face broke into a wide grin, pleased to be allies with Asajj for once. He took her arm, which she leaned against, using him as a human crutch. He took a step towards the door, but her words stopped him.

"Obi-wan?"

"Yes?"

"The hanger's the other way." It was her turn to suppress a smirk.

"Of course." replied Obi-wan, turning around. Although his manner remained absolutely perfect, she saw his cheeks turn a bright shade of pink. They set off down the other hallway, Asajj both disgusted and pleased to be leaning against him, cursing her once again conflicting emotions, Obi-wan trying to push back any feelings of companionship for her and replace them with ambivalence. And neither of them knew that this was only the beginning, both of this trial and of the many missions together, some against their wills, others in which they would be quite pleased with eachother's company.


	5. Chapter 4: Rex's new crush

**Gracias to Jedi-dreamer101 and Terra Young for reveiwing this! This one's alittle short- I'd rather write for Asajj and Obi-wan then these two. It comes more naturally. Anyway, here's the first Rex/Aayla chapter.**

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Chapter 4

Captain Rex strode easily down the hallway, on his way to the cafeteria. It had been a long but easy mission. He hadn't eaten since about five this morning, and his stomach growled. Still, he was in no rush. He even took the long way, hoping to avoid standing in a long line. He'd always rather be walking then just standing, because Rex was a man of action. He liked to do something, and he hated waiting. As he turned down a hallway filled with Jedi apartments, he suddenly saw a blue _something _come rushing down the hallway the opposite way. He tried to avoid whoever it was, but Blast! Too late. He was smashed right into by Jedi knight Aayla Secura, who staggered backwards.

"Oh, Captain, I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine. You're probably worse off then I am." He was still wearing his tough, heavy-duty armor, although he had removed his helmet.

"No, I'm okay." She smiled slightly, but she didn't look okay.

"You're sure? What were you doing here anyway?" he asked, trying to change the topic. This hallway housed Masters Windu, Fisto, Koon, Tii, Yoda, and Mindi, and Aayla lived three hallways down. The two started to walk side by side down the hallway, the opposite direction Rex had been going, but he didn't mind. Aayla seemed too distracted to notice his sudden change of direction.

"I just went to see Kit." She was suddenly looking dejected, and Rex wondered why. There were rumors going around about Aayla and Kit, although both denied it.

"So, um where are you headed now?"

"I don't know. Maybe just to my room."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Actually, no. Kit broke up with me." Rex had actually been talking about running into him and then nearly falling over, but he decided to just go with the flow and pretend that was what he meant.

"I thought you and Kit weren't a couple."

"We didn't want rumors to spread. And Kit never really said we were a couple. I just thought... he was always so..." Aayla tried many different sentence starts, but none seemed to work. "I said it would be better if he were coming with me and Kenobi and Skywalker three days from now, and he said..." she dropped her voice to a whisper, "he said that he was quite pleased to finally have a mission without me tagging along. And he said I was getting too close for the code." She looked as though she might burst into tears at any second.

"That must be hard." Rex had no clue what it was like. He'd never met anyone who he'd had any romantic interest in, although he thought he might have, just now.

"Yeah. But I guess it's better this way. The code." she reminded him.

"Uh, yeah." He was pretty tired of hearing about the blasted code telling Jedi what they could and couldn't do, as though it were all powerful and always knew best. Hearing about the force, though, never got old.

"Although they were considering changing it, so maybe Kit will like me again. Or I could find someone better."

"Right." He affirmed, his brain taking a moment to realize she was talking about the attachment law.

"I'll see you around, Rex." She turned down one of the hallways they were walking past."

"Bye." He called, still rather entranced. He watched as she walked off, her blue lekku swinging ever so slightly from side to side. She'd remembered his name! HE wasn't just 'Captain', he was Rex! He sank into a rather impossible daydream of her turning around, walking back over, and asking him if he'd like to go out with her. Which was odd for him. He never daydreamed. Tough-as-nails-Rex was what he was sometimes called. But he was sure of one thing now: he had a crush on General Secura. No, not all-business General Secura, but sweet, friendly Aayla. And being the straight forward thinker he was, his next thought was about what was for dinner.

**please reveiw now, and you get your name in the next chapter! but as an added bonus...you get this teaser! the next chapter involves Asajj falling on her face and Obi-wan freaking out! All while trying not to admit they love eachother. I'll have it up as soon as I can!**


	6. Chapter 5: Names, falling, and escape

**Well, here's the next chapter, and, as I promised, it has Obi-wan panicking and Asajj falling on her face. And don't worry, although this seems over, it is very far from it. I have many more chapters coming.**

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Chapter 5

Obi-wan walked on slowly, holding Asajj's right arm, letting her lean against him to support her wounded leg. They were both silent, and Obi-wan wished she'd say something. He let his gaze stray to her face, admiring the delicate curves in her cheek, her jaw, her lips. When she wasn't scowling, she was beautiful, not that he'd ever say it out loud. Asajj, feeling his gaze turned and looked at him, and he hurriedly stared the opposite direction, not wanting her to know he'd just been drinking in the smooth arch of her eyebrow, and the look of her eyelashes. He pretended to admire the scenery of metal walls, hallways, and doors while Asajj glared at the back of his head. What he liked most about Asajj's face were her eyes, which some had described as possessed, but he thought were gorgeous. They were a pale blue, like ice, water, a blue fire, the same color as his own lightsaber... Lightsaber! He was a Jedi. He could _not_ be daydreaming about her eyes, no matter how pretty.

A door was up ahead, and when Obi-wan opened it, three droidekas were there to greet him. They instantly unrolled themselves, put up their shields and began shooting. Obi-wan whipped out his lightsaber and blocked their bullets, slowly making his way closer to the heavily armed droids. Asajj pulled out both of her own lightsabers to block whatever the poorly aiming things sent her way. It was so odd to not be using them against Obi-wan. Obi-wan, meanwhile, was making no progress against them, and decided to use an old trick he'd learned from Ahsoka.

Asajj didn't know about the trick, however. All she knew was that Obi-wan collapsed to the floor. The droids stopped shooting and put down their shields, having eliminated the enemy.

"Obi-wan!" she screamed. He couldn't be dead, how would she get out of here? But more then that, he was the closest thing she had to a friend, and she might have been in love with him. Rage gripped her mind. Those droids were going down. She used her good leg to launch herself over Obi-wan's still body and land in front of them, cutting all three through with a wicked slash. The landing sent another shot of pain up her other leg, but revenge was worth it. That was when Obi-wan stood up.

"What?" he asked, as though nothing had just happened.

"What did you just do?" She was staring at him.

"Oh, that. Ahsoka taught me. You just drop to the floor, and they think you're done for and shut down. Then it's a snap to get rid of them." He was giving her a slight smile. Had she thought he was dead? He hoped not. But then again, she had yelled his name, a note of terror in her voice. And she hadn't called him Kenobi, either. _Obi-wan. _She had called him Obi-wan.

"Oh." Asajj felt like an absolute idiot now. What had she been thinking, imagining him dead. He was tougher then that. He survived everything. He was impossible to contain, as she had tried to tell her master so many times. Even now, he was out of his cell. She fingered her lightsaber. She could kill him. Easily. The thought came before she could stop it. She wouldn't though. Not until they got to the hanger. Then she didn't need him. But then again, fighting him, working with him, was the most fun she'd had in months. Force, she hadn't had this much fun since...since the last time she saw Obi-wan...

"By the way my dear, your fighting skills are excellent, as usual."

What was he talking about? Her leap had been the opposite of graceful, her landing had been absolutely...wait a minute. Was Obi-wan _flirting_ with her? What was worse, she actually rather liked that he was. _If _he was.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Kenobi." she answered.

"How can it be flattery if I don't want anything from you?"

Asajj was silent for a while, pondering these thoughts while in the back of her mind thinking of how she could get revenge of sorts on Obi-wan. Deep in these thoughts, totally lost, she didn't notice the blasted step. She had always remembered the step before, but now, Obi-wan at her side, possibly flirting with her, all while plotting her revenge, she didn't notice it. Needless to say, she fell. Flat on her face. And to make matters worse, she thought she heard Obi-wan stifle a laugh. There really was no graceful way out of the situation. No one ever believed you when you said you'd done it on purpose. Unless she could make Obi-wan embarrassed first. Which she quite possible could.

Asajj was suddenly very still. Her sides had stopped moving. Obi-wan walked right into her trap.

"Asajj? Asajj!" He bent over her, touching her arm. No response. "No, not you Asajj! Asajj...If I'd known..." he choked off. If he could have seen her face, he would have known she was holding back silent giggles. They were escaping. She couldn't keep them in. She'd never know what Obi-wan would have done if he'd known, or what he knew for that matter.

"Gotcha!" the word burst out of her mouth with a flurry of laughing. Obi-wan at first looked concerned, then startled, then a mixture of amused, annoyed, and humiliated.

"_So_ funny Asajj." He had started to blush, but looked as though he himself was trying to keep from laughing.

"_If I'd known..."_ Asajj mocked giggling. "You really should have seen that coming Obi-wan."

She'd called him Obi-wan again. Both of them noticed, but neither said anything, as Asajj was annoyed that it just came naturally, just slipped right out of her mouth, and Obi-wan was enjoying the way his own name sounded on her lips.

Finally he spoke. "You're quite right, darling, I should have. After all, you know what they say: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice..."

Asajj finished the statement for him. "Shame on _you_ Obi-wan" she teased. Her plan had worked. It wasn't she who was embarrassed, and Obi-wan seemed to have forgotten all about her tripping on her own feet. Again they lapsed into silence, only broken by the occasional slash of a lightsaber as they destroyed droids. At last, they slid through a door and found themselves safely in the hanger. After Obi-wan destroyed the super battle droids she had previously sent to guard the hanger and the pair walked up the boarding ramp of one of the shuttles, they found themselves facing a difficult question.

"Um, Ventress?"

"What?"

"Are you my prisoner, or am I yours?"

Asajj thought about this for a second, then spoke slowly. "You were my prisoner first, but you did win the duel, and I'm in no condition to attack you, so I guess I'm yours." Blast, that had come out wrong. "Your prisoner, I mean." She quickly corrected herself.

"How about you take one ship, and I take another?" Obi-wan didn't really want to capture Asajj, but he certainly wanted to get away. He really should arrest her, but it seemed wrong somehow, and no one would ever have to know...

"Sounds fair." It was rather generous of him to let her escape.

"Alright. It's been a pleasure to work with you my darling..." He broke off as an ominous rumbling came from under their feet. Asajj turned around and hobbled into the shuttle. Obi-wan jumped off the boarding ramp before it folded shut and leapt right into another shuttle. He quickly force-shoved the pilot droid out of the seat, though it protested, and took the controls himself. His newly acquired ship zoomed out of the hanger right behind Ventress's.

The pilot droid took off to hyperspace, making her lose sight of Obi-wan's ship. It wasn't until she sat down in the co-pilot's seat that she realized that Obi-wan had escaped. Blast! There had to be some way to catch him. The devious Negotiator had to have some weakness. Now all she had to do was find it. And she would.

As for Obi-wan, he couldn't wait to tell Anakin how wrong he'd been about Asajj. And, of course, that she was still alive. And, quite possibly, just a little, he was dreaming about her. And when he'd see her again. And about looking into those pale eyes and seeing humor there, rather then her usual hatred-or perhaps seeing affection? He was dreaming about her, he reflected, not wanting to deny it to himself, but just a little bit. And that was where he was in complete denial.

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**Reveiw please, and get your name in the next chapter! And, in the next chapter, I present Obi-wan trying to tell Anakin that Asajj is alive and redeemable, a very distracted Rex, and Ahsoka trying to make her new job work out. And don't worry, there are many more chapters coming, and Obi-wan and Asajj WILL end up kissing, I promise.**


	7. Chapter 6: meetings, dreams, and PB&J

**Here we are, chapter 6! This chapter has peanut butter! thanks to reveiwers Sithlord8665, Terra Young, and ArmedwithaPen! I like exclamation points! I also don't own Star Wars! Enjoy!**

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Chapter 6

Anakin was striding around the hanger, doing absolutely nothing-nothing but worrying, that is. And of course getting in the way of all the clones trying to fix up all the ships for tomorrow's mission. And there was still no sign of Obi-wan. He'd thought he'd lost his Master so many times, and still Obi-wan had come out fine, but still...And what was more, he hated feeling helpless. Actually, The fear of losing his master was what had made him kill Ventress. That was when he heard the voices on the radio.

"Captain Rex to unknown ship. Identify yourself."

"This is General Kenobi requesting that you open the hanger door." It was his master! He'd recognize that voice anywhere. He immediately looked around for Rex. _Good. _His eyes narrowed like a large beast stalking a smaller one. _Right in range. _

"Please enter your access code, General, and we'll open it righ- AAARRGHH!" Poor Rex was tackled to the ground, and the next thing a very confused Obi-wan heard was the voice of his hyper Padawan.

"Master! Yay!" Anakin couldn't see his Master, but he took it from the sigh that followed that Obi-wan was rolling his eyes. People seemed to do that a lot around him, and he wasn't sure why.

"Anakin, what have I told you about stealing communicators?"

"That it creates confusion and it's impolite."

"So why did you just take Rex's communicator?"

"I was happy to hear from you."

"Oh, joy. Now please hand Rex back the radio you grabbed..."

"He tackled me." complained the clone, swiping the radio from his general.

"Anakin, did you really?" It was _so_ great to be here and see his crazy Padawan again, he thought sarcastically. He'd much rather be back with Asajj. This was probably a traitorous thought. He pushed it out of his mind and tried to focus on enjoying being home.

"Yes, he did." Rex sounded slightly distracted. In front of him, the hanger door slid open.

"I thought you said I needed to enter my access code."

"That's you alright. Skywalker confirmed it."

Anakin was actually hopping up and down with excitement as Obi-wan stepped out of the shuttle.

"Anakin, exactly how much coffee did you drink this morning?" he rubbed his temples. He'd only been here two minutes, and his Padawan was already giving him a headache.

"I didn't have any coffee Master. And you sound _so_ happy to see me."

Another eyeroll. "Good to see you Anakin. But we have to talk. Call Rex, Ahsoka, and Aayla."

"Why all them?"

"Because they need to hear this."

"Are you going to tell me where you were? What happened to you? Were you held captive? How'd you escape? Did..."

Obi-wan cut off whatever it was he was going to say next. "I'll tell you all that, just get everyone and we'll meet in the south conference room."

"But Master..."

"For Force's sake Anakin, what now?"

"We're in space. I don't think there is a 'south'."

"Then we'll use the one at the starboard of the ship."

"Okey-dokey. I'll go get everyone." Anakin paused and took a closer look at his master. "You look stressed."

_No doubt, with you around, _Obi-wan was tempted to say, but decided against it. "Well, yes, I've had something of a stressful day." Anakin had no idea what he'd been through.

"Me too. Ahsoka wouldn't leave me alone, she wanted me to hire her to find me a date..."

"What?"

"She thinks she's going to find me a date. She's wacko. And Rex seems really distracted, not sure why, I've been wondering where you were..." Anakin let out a dramatic sigh. "You have no clue how much caffeine I had to drink to cope."

"I thought you said you didn't have any coffee."

"I had soda. Cans and cans of it."

"Well, that explains a lot."

Ten minutes later, everyone was assembled: Rex, who did seem a little distracted, Ahsoka, who was scribbling frantically on a notepad, Anakin, who was swigging down his who-knew-what-number soda, and Aayla, who, Obi-wan noted, was the only sane person in the room besides himself. No, just the only sane person, he corrected, as he had serious doubts about his own sanity.

"Alright, You all need to know-" He paused, considering if he should just spit it out, or give an intro. "You all need to know that Asajj-er-Ventress, is still alive."

Collective gasp. Well, except from Rex, who was gazing out the window, Ahsoka, who yelled, "No way!" and snapped her pencil against the paper, and Anakin, who spit out a mouthful of soda, effectively covering the whole room in a mixture of cola and Skywalker spit. So basically, Aayla gasped.

"Yes way, Ahsoka. And Anakin, could you not...do...that again?"

Anakin ignored the request. "So, you saw her? Or are you just convinced with no evidence like last time.?"

"Last time I was right, remember?" Obi-wan interjected.

Ahsoka was staring down at her pencil, surveying the damage. "Hey Rexy!" she yelled over Anakin and Obi-wan's argument. "Go get me another pencil."

"Huh, what?" Rex snapped out of his trance.

"A pencil, Rex. I want you to get me a pencil."

"Right General." Rex got up and went into the closet. He came back out with a box of ammo, which he set down in front of Ahsoka. "Here you are, Captain. Ammo."

Ahsoka looked down at the ammo, then at her notepad, back at the ammo, then at her captain. "Rexy," she said calmly. "Have you always been this insane?"

"Whatever you say, General." He was gazing across the room again.

"Yeah, well, you were bordering on crazily obsessed." muttered Anakin.

"What do you mean by 'crazily obsessed'?" Obi-wan scowled at the brown haired Jedi.

"I just mean you were trying to find her. And you seemed to be a little more worried about finding her then with the bans on obsession in the Jedi Code."

"Who are you to be talking about breaking the code?" Obi-wan half yelled.

"Rex!" Ahsoka hollered.

"Geez, you don't have to yell!"

"Get me a pencil! And put this ammo away."

"I swear you asked for ammo." The clone mumbled as he walked back into the closet. This time he came out with a large jar of peanut butter. "Peanut butter. Just like you asked." He thumped it down on the table in front of her.

"As much as I like peanut butter," the Padawan began calmly, "I asked you for a _pencil!"_ she practically screamed.

"No you didn't!" Rex yelled right back, "You wanted peanut butter for your sandwich!"

"What sandwich? Do I look like I have a sandwich?"

"Are you implying I break the code?" Anakin stood up angrily.

"I'm not _implying_ anything, Anakin I'm saying that you do break the code, and you shouldn't be calling my feeling that there's still good left in that assassin a crazy obsession." Obi-wan was yelling, but he didn't really have a choice if he wanted to be heard over Anakin, Ahsoka, and Rex.

"_Everyone sit down and shut up_!" screamed Aayla, louder then anyone. If there had been anyone outside the room, they would have been shaking their heads. That or laughing. Rex dropped into his seat immediately. Ahsoka scowled, grabbed the jar of peanut butter and sat down. Anakin sat down, still glaring at Obi-wan. Obi-wan turned to Aayla, muttered a quick apology, and resumed talking.

"As I was saying, Ventress was holding me prisoner, and she was-"

He was interrupted by Ahsoka. "I can't take notes, I have _peanut butter_ instead of a pencil.

"With all respect, Padawan, no one asked you to take any notes." Aayla answered.

Anakin ignored her. "Eat some peanut butter. Then the story will stick in your brain. 'Cause peanut butter's sticky!" He laughed loudly at his own joke until he realized no one else thought it was funny. "Ahem. Please continue, Master."

"She was torturing me, but decided not to." Obi-wan finished, looking triumphantly at the rest of the room. "So it proves there's still good in her." he explained.

"Master, I thought you were going to tell us what happened, not your theories." Aayla shot the Jedi a look, and he shut up.

Obi-wan began to tell about how he had escaped from the cell, leaving out Asajj trying to kill herself, as he felt she'd rather not have everyone know about that, but telling them about the duel, the droids hitting Asajj and setting the ship to blow up, and escaping. About halfway through this story, Anakin grew bored, so he tried to use the force to steal the jar of peanut butter from his Padawan. Ahsoka caught it in midair. Anakin pulled, Ahsoka held on tight, then twisted the jar. The lid, which Anakin had been pulling on, flew off and hit him in the face. Ahsoka tried to hold in giggles as Aayla shot both of them a look.

Obi-wan finally finished his story. Rex still stared dreamily out the window. Ahsoka was eating peanut butter out of the jar with one finger. Anakin was focusing on trying to stick his tongue out at Ahsoka while Aayla wasn't looking. Obi-wan sighed. So immature.

Several hours later, Asajj paced the Separatist base on Mustafar. Her master had not been at all pleased over the loss of Obi-wan. He had assigned her to the Mustafar base, as he had been informed it was to be attacked in two days. Kenobi would be there. This time she had to beat him. Her leg had been healed by now, so she'd have no trouble, if she could only figure out his weakness. He must have one. Her's was apparently torture, either that or Obi-wan. No. Torture. Not Obi-wan. Not that auburn haired Jedi general with the charming blue eyes and the witty banter. Forget this. She'd think about Obi-wan later. She was going to sleep.

Meanwhile, in the Republic base, said auburn haired Jedi General was having some rather frightening dreams.

"You'll have to do better then that, my dear Kenobi." She was before him again, and they were locked in an intense duel.

"Never fear, my sweet, I don't think I'll be losing this battle." He heard himself say. Obi-wan watched as if from outside his own body as he fought the assassin who he had recently discovered to be alive. Then, his lightsaber slipped. It pierced Asajj, and she dropped over, a hole burned right through her heart. He wasn't sure if it was himself or the dream Obi-wan who screamed, but the next thing he knew, he was awake, panting slightly with fear. It wasn't real. He hadn't actually killed Asajj. He didn't think any death would be so horrible as that one, especially at his own hand. He'd have to be careful when he fought her again, assuming he did. He had hoped he'd see her again soon, but now he wasn't so sure.

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**Please reveiw this, and you get your name listed in the top with all the other lovely reveiwers, and I love receiving praise, but constructive criticism is most appreciated as well. teaser time! Next, the Jedi head to Mustafar, where Obi-wan finds himself facing Asajj again. Will his dreams come true, will they hold him back? And, Ahsoka, the love doctor and Anakin the interfeerer confront Rex about his rather obvious feelings for Aayla secura.**


	8. Chapter 7: Planet of fire

**Here's the next chapter! I don't own any of these people, or planets, or lightsabers, or... just assume I own nothing. Ahsoka will be having her first meeting with a lovesick Rex, with unwanted help from Anakin, and poor Obi-wan might finally see his dreams come true...or his worst nightmares. PS: thanks to RoMythe, Terra Young, Padwan Jesselin Fett, jedigal125, and jedi-dreamer101 for reveiwing the last chapter. I am pleased to say we have more of hyper Anakin in this chapter, as well as all the usual romantic mush.**

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Chapter 7

Obi-wan didn't get any sleep the rest of that night, or the night after. It seemed every time he finally did drift off, the dream was haunting him again, always the same, and every time, he felt the same pain, the same horror. Consequently, as he, Anakin, Ahsoka and Rex climbed aboard the gunships, he was exhausted. He dozed on and off as the ships flew, again seeing bits and pieces of the vision of her death, which jolted him back awake, only to have him fall back asleep. Even when he wasn't asleep, Obi-wan didn't listen to what the others in the ship were saying. This is the conversation he missed.

"Hey Rex!" called Ahsoka as soon as they had sat down.

"Shut up!" her master whispered. "Obi-wan's asleep."

"Sorry!" she whispered back, before continuing her talk with Rex. "Hey Rex!"

"Yes General?" he asked softly.

"We need to have a serious talk about your feelings."

"What?" Rex exclaimed loudly

"Shhhh!" Anakin glared at his captain. "My master is sleeping. He hasn't slept at all lately, and I don't know why. So let him."

"What?" he whispered.

"Well, I am a doctor of love, remember?" Ahsoka smiled broadly. "You have major feelings we need to talk about. Just think of me as your counselor."

"I don't think so, Kid."

"Ahem. Please call me Ma'am or Doctor at all times when we are in our meetings."

"Yes general, I mean, yes Ma'am." The clone muttered faintly. Anakin chuckled and pulled a soda out from the mini fridge. Most gunships don't have mini fridges, bathrooms, sofas, or tables and chairs, but this was the luxury model, designed for Jedi or dignitaries on long flights. He opened it and took a long drink, keeping a careful eye on his master, who had told him not to drink so much caffeine.

Ahsoka smiled like she had just won a bet. "Better. Now, why don't you tell me about your feelings for Aayla Secura."

Anakin spat again, spraying the gunship's luxury interior with lime soda.

"EEEEEWWW! Master!" Ahsoka forgot all about being quiet until Obi-wan mumbled something in his sleep and rolled over. "Obi-wan told you never to do that again!" she yell-whispered. "Actually, he told you no more caffeine, Mister."

"Aayla Secura? And Rex? You must be kidding!"

"Uh, didn't you see how he was looking at her in the meeting room? And how he was so distracted, he brought me peanut butter instead of a pencil?"

"So? I can't see them together at all."

"Yeah, well who's a doctor of love? Not you, Anakin. You wouldn't know love if someone jumped out in front of you and said 'I'm in love!' while dancing a jig! You'd probably blame it on the weather!"

"I'm not that stupid! And besides, did Rex ever tell you he likes Aayla?"

Rex chose this moment to speak up, much to Anakin's chagrin. "Actually, Sir, she's right. I do like Aayla." He was blushing, but they couldn't see it, as he was wearing his helmet.

"Who's right?" She looked up at her master, a mock innocent look all over her face.

"Just shut up." growled Anakin, sitting down on the chair on the opposite side of the room, but he quickly came back, as he was too interested by the conversation to not eavesdrop.

"So, let's focus on me getting you a date with her. My fee is..."

"Whoa, whoa, Ahsoka. Who says Aayla is interested in Rex? I mean, she's like the hottest female Jedi in the Temple..."

"Rowr, Master!" Ahsoka grinned. "Maybe _you _want a date with her! Competition! Oh, wait," she pretended to remember, "You like someone else. Who was it again? Oh, yeah, the Senator!"

"Hey, I'm just stating the facts. She's hot, and pretty much every guy in the Temple wants a date with her. Plus, she's a Jedi. As Obi-wan would say, 'Anakin, follow the code!'" Anakin did a perfect imitation of his master's voice. "Besides, what would she see in Rex?"

"Excuse me?" snarled the captain. "I'm only_ the_ highest ranking clone in the entire Clone Army!"

"Ahem! Gentlemen! Or as I should say, gentleman and Master!" Ahsoka ignored the frown she got from Anakin. "I'll set you up with Aayla for only twenty credits."

"Deal." Rex pulled some credits out of a pocket on his belt and placed them on the table in front of the Padawan.

"Ahsoka, how exactly are you going to do this?" Anakin whispered.

"Relax, It worked with Luminara and Fox. I locked them in a room together, and they were stuck there for three hours, and..."

"You locked up a Jedi master?"

"Yup. They actually liked eachother. Of course they were just one of the trial runs, so I didn't get paid."

"_One_ of the trial runs?"

"Well, there were more. But the rest weren't too happy."

"We're landing, so I won't even bother asking who the poor souls were." He turned to the sofa. "Master wake up we're here!" he hollered.

Obi-wan bolted awake, yelling, "Nooooo!" The entire ship stared at him. "sorry, he explained hastily. "Weird dream."

As the ship landed on the lowest of the metal platforms suspended above the lava, Obi-wan fought back a shudder. The idea of falling into the lava...he'd rather be anywhere but here. Anakin stood up, stretched, and pressed the button to open the door.

Behind him, Ahsoka yawned. "This ought to be an easy mission. Just blow up the droids and the base right?"

"Ventress is here." Said Obi-wan. He was staring out across the platform, which he realized, had no handrails. There was a metal staircase leading up to the platform above, which was where the base was. The platform they sat on was completely empty, probably it was used as a landing zone.

Ahsoka and Anakin stared at him. "How do you know that?" Ahsoka gaped at him as he turned around.

"I don't sense anything Master." Anakin was giving him the 'you-just-might-be-crazy-because-I'm-always-right' look

Obi-wan shook his head. "She's here." He could feel her presence, and his dream told him she'd be here. He was exactly right. Ventress slid out of the shadows and stood in front of them, completely silent. Ahsoka gasped and Anakin just stared. Obi-wan couldn't resist turning around to shoot Anakin an 'I-told-you-so' smirk. His former Padawan rolled his blue eyes.

"I've been expecting to see you my dearest. But you didn't tell me you were bringing your obnoxious little student." If looks could kill, Obi-wan and Ahsoka would have been the only Jedi left standing.

"Uh, you forgot about me?" snapped Ahsoka. Anakin glared at her. He'd wanted to have been the one to make the witty remark. It had always been his job, and she'd better not try to steal it. And it didn't help that all Obi-wan did was flirt with her and tell him he could bring her back to the good side as she tried to take off both their heads. _Oh, Master, you're so crazy. _he thought.

"I don't count arrogant Padawans. Well, then I suppose Skywalker isn't really worth mentioning either." She smirked at the dark haired Jedi. He was so different from his master: arrogant, wild, angry, obnoxious, not to mention she had _no _idea why half the girls in the temple thought he was hot.

"You go take care of the droids and set the charges on the base. I'll hold her off." Muttered Obi-wan to his Padawan, slightly annoyed that he had to lean _up_ to talk in his ear. His dream was still haunting him, but he certainly wasn't going to let Anakin fight her. Anakin had no self control.

"Why can't _I_ ever fight the bog witch?" growled Anakin.

"Just go!"

"no fair."

Asajj did a backwards handspring across the platform, and Obi-wan couldn't help but admire her agility. And strength. And grace. And beauty... _Geez Obi-wan, just shut up,_ he told his inner self.

"Are you Jedi going to attack, or stand there all day?" called Asajj.

"Oh, we'll attack." growled Anakin. "And we'll win." The three Jedi separated, Anakin and Ahsoka heading up the staircase to the base, Obi-wan stepping towards the woman in front of him.

"So, I get to fight you? Ironic." she noted, drawing out her blades.

"It is indeed." Obi-wan swallowed and pulled out his own saber. He'd have to be very careful if he didn't want his dream to become reality.

Then they fought. Asajj noticed that he wasn't fighting like himself. He held his lightsaber to close to his body, only edging in defensive strikes and not any attacks. He was just holding her off? Not actually fighting? She could feel his fear. The fight had brought them near the side of the platform. Lava? Was that his weakness? Asajj still hadn't figured out what his weakness was. She moved closer to the edge, trying to see if... Her foot slipped. She flailed her arms for a split second, then regained her balance. She'd felt more fear from him. He hadn't attacked either, as any other Jedi would have. And she suddenly understood. She had his weakness. She couldn't stop a smile from spreading over her face for a moment. At long last, Ventress had won.

Obi-wan stared as she suddenly extinguished her lightsabers and began walking closer to him. He held up his own saber, wary of a surprise attack. She began circling like a predator as she spoke.

"Oh, don't worry, Kenobi, I won't attack you. And I know you won't attack me either." She spoke in a smug matter, her face curved into a matching smirk. "Because if you attack, someone will get hurt. Badly." Her glance strayed to the balcony above, where the occasional falling droid head and loud blasting let Obi-wan know Anakin and Ahsoka were doing fine with the droids. She must have some sort of trap. Anakin and Ahsoka! He had to warn them somehow, but she was saying if he attacked, they'd probably be blown sky high.

"Everyone has a weakness, my sweet." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "I just had to find yours. Not your fighting style, not a fear of some kind- I just had to find someone you care about." He would admit, he rather liked his old Padawan, even if he was absolutely insane. And Ahsoka showed great promise for someone so young, not to mention she _was_ fun, no matter how crazy and annoying.

Ventress had stopped circling and was standing right at his side. She leaned in and whispered in his ear, her lips so close he could feel her breath as she spoke. "I'm your weakness." Obi-wan stiffened.

"Mmm-hmm." She trailed her fingertips along his jawline as she resumed her relentless circling. "You wouldn't want to see anything happen to me. And you certainly couldn't hurt me yourself." Her voice was still soft. She ceased once more, this time in front of him and held out her hand. "So how about you hand over your lightsaber before you," she paused, "accidentally kill me."

Obi-wan still felt numb. She couldn't have phrased it better if she'd known about the dreams. And one scene from his dream kept flashing through his mind, as she sank lifeless to the floor. He slowly extended his arm and dropped the lightsaber into her outstretched hand, turning it off as he let it fall the remaining inch to her palm. Her smile stretched wider as she clipped it to her own belt and reignited her own sabers. He dodged her first few slashes, but he was running out of platform. And he knew it was only a matter of time before he was struck down by the one he cared about most.

**Well, this one is a cliffhanger isn't it? but that gets you guys all geared up for the next chapter, and maybe I'll get some more reveiws? please? I'll still uphold my end of the deal: I get reveiws, you guys get a teaser! this time, it's the beginning of the next chapter!**

**_So this is why we're not supposed to have attachments, _Obi-wan thought to himself as he dodged the red glows that were Ventress's lightsabers. One brushed his leg and he dropped backwards with a slight cry of pain. Before he could regain his footing, the tips of her lightsabers were pointed at his chest.**

**"Sorry, Kenobi. All Jedi must die. Even you." She raised one blade high, ready to bring it down and slice him apart. **


	9. Chapter 8: Saving lives, even evil ones

**Ok, here is me to rid you all of the 'evil' cliffhanger I wrote for you last time. If you read this story, you probably know that Asajj is about to kill a defenseless Obi-wan, who surrendered his lightsaber to her because he couldn't bear to think of accidentally killing her. anyway, thatnks to MobiObi, clarinetlover21, Sheila V, Terra Young, and RoMythe for reveiwing the last chapter, and yes, if you reveiw, you get your name here too.**

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Chapter 8

_So this is why we're not supposed to have attachments, _Obi-wan thought to himself as he dodged the red glows that were Ventress's lightsabers. One brushed his leg and he dropped backwards with a slight cry of pain. Before he could regain his footing, the tips of her lightsabers were pointed at his chest.

"Sorry, Kenobi. All Jedi must die. Even you." She raised one blade high, ready to bring it down and slice him apart. But she didn't. Just stood.

Ventress fought with herself internally. She should kill him. Now. But then she remembered how he'd helped her all the way to the hanger, let her escape, how she'd been completely hypnotized with his eyes. How he'd refused to leave her there to die. And how he saw some worth in her, no matter what Dooku said. She lost the battle.

Obi-wan could see her conflict in her eyes, and he gave her a small smile. Asajj closed her eyes. When she spoke he barely heard her words.

"I can't." She disignited her lightsabers, shaking her head slightly as if she couldn't quite believe what she was saying. "I can't." she repeated, almost in a whisper. "I can't kill you. Not you." She never could have. She'd had chance after chance, and she'd passed them up. Asajj thought for a second about what this meant. She was a traitor to her cause, a terrible apprentice, blah blah blah...But it also meant something more. She couldn't see those blue eyes lose their light, close without any hope of ever opening again. Geez, she was going soft. It was because he was different. He didn't hate her. And apparently, she actually was his weakness. And he must be hers.

Obi-wan stood up hesitantly, and she handed his lightsaber back to him. For a second, they both stood there breathing heavily, partly from their fight, partly from the heat of Mustafar. They might have heard Anakin if they hadn't been so lost in eachother's eyes, not that Asajj would ever admit she was lost in his eyes _again. _With no warning, Anakin suddenly landed on the platform behind them and force-pushed Ventress from behind. Obi-wan stared in horror as she dropped off the edge of the platform.

"You're welcome Master." hollered Anakin as he leapt back up to the platform above.

Obi-wan darted over to the edge, terrified. As he peered down, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. She was clinging to a metal pipe just below the platform. Asajj was staring down past her feet, looking thoroughly frightened. Obi-wan stretched out a gloved hand towards her.

"Asajj!" She looked up. "Grab my hand!" Asajj debated this. There was no real reason why she shouldn't trust Obi-wan, but he _was_ as enemy, and falling into lava was possibly the worst death she could imagine. "Ventress, trust me." That clinched it. She let go with one hand, dangling for a few, panicky seconds, then felt Obi-wan pulling her up, high enough that she could get a grip on the edge of the actual platform and scramble up.

"Thanks." she muttered. Obi-wan smiled slightly at her again, and again her heart did a flip. Why did she have to feel like this? Why did Obi-wan have to be so very...hard to hate? She'd never before hesitated to kill. Never _not_ killed when she was ordered to. Life really was too complicated.

She spoke. "So, judging from your sheer terror, I'd say I really am your weakness." The smirk returned, and Obi-wan felt himself blushing hotter then the lava that coursed under their feet.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly...that is...I mean...no?"

BOOM. There was some kind of explosion from above them, and the platform shook so violently that they both fell over. Worse still, there was a horrible squeal that set her teeth on edge and sent a shiver down her spine, the unpleasant kind of shiver. Then, before she and Kenobi had even regained their footing, pipes, cables, and metal beams began falling down around them. She looked up, and the last thing she saw was a thick metal pipe a few inches from her head. Due to gravity, it hit her. Asajj's last conscious thought was, _That's gonna hurt when I wake up. If I wake up. Which I probably won't. _Because she knew what would happen next. The platform was about to collapse on top of her. And if that didn't kill her, by some miracle, the lava would.

Obi-wan saw her get hit and darted to her side. _Familiar much?_ he couldn't help but ask himself. His one weakness was out cold. There wasn't time to wake her, as the platform above was letting out horrible shrieks as the metal tore away from the rest of the platform. Cables snapped; pieces of metal still fell from the sky. Obi-wan took a deep breath, scooped Asajj up, and ran. He didn't stop running until he heard the _slam _of the platform collapsing where they had once stood. Then came the screeching of metal again as the lower platform broke under the weight of the platform above it. The whole mess of twisted metal dropped into the lava below, hissing as it melted. He shuddered as he watched it sink. That could have been them, sinking down into rivers of hot death. He would have cut it a lot less close if he hadn't stopped to save Asajj, but he couldn't live with himself knowing he let her die. Maybe Grievous or Dooku, but not her.

He glanced down at his sweet, still lying in his arms, head resting against his chest. With her eyes closed, she actually looked relaxed. Happy almost. When she smiled, he thought, she really was beautiful. Ventress had been right, of course. She was his weakness, the one person he couldn't bear to see hurt. And there was still good in her, obviously, as she hadn't been able to kill him. He _would_ bring her back from the dark side, no matter what he had to do. Anakin was right about one thing- this was an obsession, always had been.

Asajj's mind woke first. _Blast, where am I? Dead?_ she thought to herself. Nope, her head was throbbing with pain too much for her to be dead. Slowly she remembered what had happened. Then she realized someone was holding her. Oh. Force. That could be only one person. She looked up slowly and opened her eyes. Sure enough, the man holding her so gently was Obi-wan Kenobi, her mortal enemy. Her mortal enemy that she apparently couldn't kill. As much as she'd like to just lay there for maybe _forever_, that would just be too humiliating when forever was over. She jolted away from him, half jumping, half rolling out of his arms. She fell to the metal platform, smashing her forearms against it, then hurriedly scrambled to her feet. Obi-wan looked slightly startled at her sudden movement and was gazing at her as though he was waiting for her to speak. _Could things really get more awkward?_ she thought to herself, then hurridly took the thought back. Usually when she thought something worse, it did.

Luckily, she was spared having to speak to him, thanks to an odd source: Anakin Skywalker. He dropped right down from the lower platform, landing right next to Obi-wan. His Padawan landed right next to him.

"It's all gone! No more Separatist base anymo... what's she doing here?" Ahsoka noticed that Ventress was just standing there doing nothing for the first time.

"I'll take care of this." growled Anakin. He stepped forward, pulling a set of handcuffs from his belt. Asajj rolled her eyes. _Again _with the handcuffs? Skywalker grabbed her wrists roughly, looking disgusted at having to touch the assassin.

"Let me." muttered Obi-wan, shouldering the obnoxious younger Jedi out of his way. Anakin and Ahsoka started heading towards the ship, arguing about whether or not Ahsoka had correctly dismantled some sort of droid.

"I suppose I have to take you prisoner again, don't I?" She shifted her gaze away from the arguing mentor-apprentice pair when Kenobi spoke. Force, he was smiling. And she liked it. She was half tempted to lean over and kiss him. O_h Force, don't think that! you've never kissed anyone before and you certainly won't be kissing Kenobi. Ever. _What she didn't know was that she was wrong. She pushed the thought from her head and came up with a quick remark.

"My dear Obi-wan," she teased, "I'm all yours." Asajj held out her hands obligingly, not pleased to be a prisoner, but certainly pleased to be Kenobi's prisoner instead of Skywalker's. Obi-wan held her forearm loosely as they walked towards the ship and the still arguing Jedi, who had now been joined in their fight by Captain Rex.

"Anakin!" snapped Obi-wan. "We have to have a talk."

"This isn't about caffeine again, is it? Because I haven't had any caffeine in...uh..." Thankfully, Obi-wan cut off the end of his lie.

"No. This is about almost _killing_..."

"It was an accident!" he interrupted. "I didn't think she'd fall off the edge! And if I did kill her then it'd just be one less enemy, I mean, I know we're supposed to take her prisoner, but really, it was an accident!" Ahsoka rolled her eyes and opened her mouth, undoubtedly to say something completely idiotic, but Obi-wan began before she did.

"That's not what I was talking about. I meant the explosives you set off on the platform. It collapsed and nearly crushed us both! Honestly, Anakin, don't you ever _think _before you act?"

"It was Ahsoka's idea!"

Now Ahsoka couldn't be stopped. "Just because I suggest something doesn't mean you have to do it without thinking! Geez Master, didn't you once think about you poor master's life?"

"You're blaming _me_ for this?"

"It's your fault!"

"No, it's yours! Just admit it Snips!"

"Never! It's _your _fault!"

Obi-wan sighed and walked away, his point having been completely swallowed up into another argument. Anakin and Ahsoka followed Ventress inside, still shouting at eachother. Rex shrugged and trudged on the gunship.

**Thank you for reading, and I'm sure you noticed the little bit about how Asajj is wrong to think she'll never kiss Kenobi. (you didn't? then go back and read it again.) well, they will kiss, as I've told you before, so quit worrying! and reveiw! reveiws make authors happy. happy authors write better stories. better stories get more reveiws. more reveiws make authors happy... see where I'm going with this? TEASER TIME! next, Asajj is taken back to the Republic base, but of course, not without a fair dose of 'annoying' from Anakin and Ahsoka. Obi-wan has to make _another_ from-the-heart discision that might involve a kiss, and of course, Aayla's first date with Captain Rex! **


	10. Chapter 9: Its a Date and an Escape

**So, Ahsoka has set up Rex with Aayla, as she promised. But REx doesn't have the best of luck. Of course, we also have a few cute Obi/Asajj moments! also, thank you to clarinetlover21, Luka Rain, Terra Young, Luka Rain again, and suziepatricia for reveiwing the last chapter!**

**EDIT: I almost forgot a scene in this chapter, but I added it now. so there's something new to read here!**

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Chapter 9

Both Asajj and Obi-wan's flight back to the temple was embarrassing to say the least. Asajj thought back on her day and realized that things just about couldn't get worse. She'd been unable to kill Obi-wan, needed to be _rescued_ by him twice, woken up in his arms, and then been taken prisoner. He, however, seemed not to notice, and she was quite pleased no one had decided to tease her about it. Asajj preferred not sitting in the main room with Skywalker, his Padawan, and his captain, as one would likely say something obnoxious, and she'd snap. Patience was not exactly her strong point, so she stalked into one of the smaller rooms used for storage and sat down on a spare chair. Obi-wan followed her in.

"Why are you sitting in here?" he asked her curiously.

"Skywalker is in there." Obi-wan seemed to find her answer amusing.

"So," he muttered. "I'd call today about a 8.7 on the near-death and danger scale."

"Yeah. For someone dedicated to life saving you seem to take quite a bit of joy in seeing me in mortal danger." She raised one eyebrow at him.

Obi-wan put on a look of mock offense. "Hey, I saved you, didn't I?" Asajj frowned. She didn't like being reminded of that little fact.

"You always seem eager to fight me."

"Fighting you is the only way I get to see you." he replied with all seriousness.

Asajj's answer was dripping with sarcasm. "Yes, and letting a wamp rat chew off my hand is the only way I can observe its interesting feeding habits."

Obi-wan looked as though he were actually considering her statement. "I suppose if one... particularly liked wamp rats." Startled, she glanced up at his face. The General was gazing down at her with a soft smile on his face.

"Well, who would? They're obnoxious, vicious pests...much like Jedi." She'd meant it as more teasing, but Obi-wan looked hurt. He turned around slowly and walked towards the door, and she had a sudden impulse to take it back. She fought with it for a second, then, as she had been doing so often lately, gave in.

"Although," she paused as Obi-wan turned to face her, "I suppose one might learn to like a particular wamp rat, if they were forced to put up with him enough." Asajj gave him the tiniest hint of a smile, and he beamed back.

"Master!" Skywalker's obnoxious voice interrupted whatever he might have said to her next, and as he left the room, she actually felt disappointed. She liked Kenobi. Wait! What was she thinking? She'd just admitted that she actually rather liked him, in a roundabout way, but still... Kenobi was the enemy. At this moment, she was his prisoner. She needed to hate Kenobi. It was her life, hatred. But somehow, hating him never felt right.

"What's the matter?" Obi-wan sighed as sat down across from Anakin. He'd been interrupted in the middle of a conversation, and he always hated that. Not to mention that he very rarely got to speak with her, and she'd just told him that she liked him...No. Jedi did not have attachments, at least they couldn't yet. But she'd always be banned, as she was with the dark side. And what did it matter? He didn't love her. She was a friend- well, sort of. He'd just have to ignore that rush of emotions she gave him.

"We want you to join in our bet." Ahsoka explained.

Obi-wan pushed his other problem from his mind to sort out this one. "What are you betting on?"

"Ahsoka bet me five credits that she could make Aayla and Rex kiss before we attack the ship in four days. I say that even if she gets them set up on a date, there's no way they'll kiss. And she's not allowed to tell either of them about the bet." Anakin glared at the young Tugrota, who was smiling at him smugly.

"And why do you want to make Jedi kiss?" Obi-wan raised an eyebrow at the Padawan.

"Because it's fun. And besides, I'll get five more credits this way!" she explained, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Anakin spoke before Obi-wan could. "Uh, who says you'll win?"

"Master, how much money do you currently owe me?"

"Thirty-five credits." muttered Anakin sullenly.

Obi-wan shook his head. Anakin and Ahsoka were quite the team. As much as they acted like the other was a nuisance, he knew both would be heartbroken if anything happened to the other. And, if he had to admit it, he would feel awful if he lost Anakin.

"What were you doing in there anyway?" Ahsoka asked suddenly.

"What? I was just talking to Asajj. _Ventress_. I was talking to Ventress."

"I think you like her master." Obi-wan had been headed back towards the door, but he whirled now. Maybe he'd been wrong about feeling awful. Maybe losing Anakin would make things a whole lot easier.

"I do not!"

Ahsoka piped in now. "Oooo, denial! That means you must really like her!"

"I do not like her! Not _that _way." Obi-wan could feel himself starting to blush.

"After all," Anakin ignored him, "you saved her life, and you call her Asajj, and you always call her your darling, and of course you don't want her dead..."

"Anakin, I want to bring her back to our side! I don't love her!"

"Now he's blushing!" Ahsoka gushed.

"I am not!" Obi-wan practically yelled, knowing full well he was. Both Anakin and Ahsoka were cracking up, and they both took one look at him and laughed harder still. Finally Anakin regained his senses.

"Alright, Snips, lets leave him alone." Seeing his master's scowl, he added, "Come on Master, you know I'm just kidding. We all know you want her back on our side. I mean, Obi-wan and Ventress, _really?_"

"I know, right? They're so totally not compatible. I should know, I'm a doctor of love."

"You are not."

"Am so." Anakin and Ahsoka, still arguing, headed back towards Rex, who was reclined on the sofa.

That was when Obi-wan turned around and saw why they had laughed so hard. Leaning in the doorway, behind him _the whole time_, was Ventress. She was smirking.

Poor Obi-wan winced. "Just don't say anything." he muttered weakly.

When the gunship landed several minutes later, a pair of clones took Ventress from him and led her away in the direction of the prison cells. Obi-wan headed back to his room, and Anakin followed him. Ahsoka took Rex by the arm as he was trying to head back to the mess.

"What? I'm trying to get some food."

"Follow me." She practically dragged him down a hallway and stopped outside an empty room with a forcefield for a door.

"What are we here for?" growled Rex. He literally growled as he spoke, because his empty stomach was apparently trying to tell him something. Although he didn't speak stomach, he knew it wanted food.

"Just wait here. I'll be right back. And by the way, there's food in there." Ahsoka darted off down the hall, and Rex didn't need any further persuasion. He entered the room and found that, sure enough, a cheese sandwich had been placed on a table in the corner. It was cold, but the hungry clone didn't care. Once he had wolfed down the sandwich, he noticed a small note lying on the table. 'Wear these' was scrawled on it in Ahsoka's handwriting. Did she mean the sandwiches? Had Ahsoka finally gone off the deep end? No. On the floor was a pair of dark sunglasses. Written on the other side of the note was: 'I know you don't want to, but do it anyway. It'll make you look cool on your date with Aayla. By the way, unless you want her to know this is a date, eat this note.' Rex frowned, picked up the glasses, and put them on. He stuffed the note in his pocket right before he heard the Padawan's voice outside.

"Here we are Master Secura. Just go right in here."

"I don't think so Padawan."

"Why not?"

"Because I heard what happened to Master Luminara. She said you locked her up for over an hour." Aayla certainly wasn't going to walk into that trap. She was, however, going to be pushed into that trap.

Ahsoka turned as if to leave. "Well, then I guess...YAH!" She shoved the Twi'lik Jedi into the room before Aayla could protest and turned on the forcefield. "Now you're stuck. Enjoy your date!" Ahsoka winked at her before she walked away.

Aayla let out a frustrated growl and then noticed Rex for the first time. "I supposed we're supposed to sit here and pretend we're on a date?"

Rex nodded, wondering what Aayla thought of all this. Was her heart pounding like his was? "Yeah. Crazy kid." he muttered.

"What's with the shades?"

"I...uh...got them as a gift. From Ahsoka. I thought if I wore them, she'd let me out early." Rex hated the glasses. He could barely see Aayla, only a dim outline of where she must be.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not going to be a guinea pig for her experiments in love." She grabbed her lightsaber from her belt and ignited it.

"Exactly." Blast! There went his chances of some alone time with Aayla. He started to cross the room towards her, but he couldn't see much in his glasses. So he tripped on a box. Not the kind of thing he wanted to do in front of the pretty Twi'lik. But he did. "Ooooof!" Rex let out a loud breath as he hit the floor.

"Are you alright Rex?"

"Yeah, I, I'm fine." He scrambled to his feet.

"How about you take these off?" Suddenly she was right next to him, pulling the glasses off his face. And there were her pretty eyes, a pale brown with a hint of amber.

"Thanks." he managed to mutter. Aayla had walked back over to the door, drawn her blue blade, and thrust it into the forcefield mechanism.

"See you around Rex!" she called back to the lovestruck clone as she strode down the hall. The captain liked her. Aayla could tell, and the poor guy had been locked up with her- probably not what he wanted at all. She wasn't sure if she liked him or not. He seemed nice, but she didn't know him very well. Of course, he was cute... But no matter what, the code prevented- forget the code. It was going to be changed anyway, and she hadn't always been one to keep all the rules. Attachments were natural, and the attachment ban was completely stupid.

Rex walked out of the room, feeling an odd mixture of daze and embarrassment. Her fingers had brushed the side of his face, and it had felt nice. He _had _fallen on his face, but still, it hadn't been bad. He sighed and headed towards the cafeteria. The sandwich hadn't been very big at all.

Obi-wan was in his own quarters, doing a bit of pacing. Anakin had just given him news on the high counsel's decision regarding Ventress. She was to be executed tomorrow. _Executed._ He couldn't let her die, not after he'd saved her so many times. But it was more then not letting his efforts go to waste. He honestly liked her. She could be brought back, he knew it. And of course those pesky feelings he felt whenever he saw her. Not the rush of adrenaline he got when he faced other opponents, but something else that he didn't even want to identify.

Through his thoughts, he had walked down to her cell, and now he stared. Ventress was being held here? It was far too low-security. She would laugh at the idea of being held in a place like this. Her lightsabers were laying on a rack outside the cell door, and the forcefield mechanism was a simple push-button. Easy to escape, but yet she hadn't. Why? Obi-wan had to find out, naturally, so he pressed the button and stepped inside. Asajj was standing in the back of the cell, looking downcast and angry.

Her master had contacted her. Upon hearing of her capture, he had not been pleased. _"Such a simple mission, and yet you screw up. And at one time you had him defenseless?" "I told you master, Skywalker got in the way." "I don't care if you come back or not. You're obviously not good for anything." _The conversation flashed through her mind over and over again. Why even bother? No one wanted her. He'd see how useful she was once she was dead. Then he'd realize exactly how useful she'd been alive.

Kenobi entered. And his teasing was not what she wanted right now. Asajj just wanted to die. Die alone, preferably. And now _he _was here. "What do you want?" she snarled.

Obi-wan decided to just tell her the whole truth. Well, most of it anyway. "I was wondering why you haven't escaped yet."

"Why Kenobi? Why would I bother to escape?"

Obi-wan seemed genuinely surprised by her lack of interest. "Won't Dooku be expecting you?"

"Dooku doesn't care." She didn't sound upset or tearful, just angry. "No one does."

Obi-wan smiled slightly. It was rather ironic of her to say no one cared, when he was here. He'd cared enough to come. "No one?" he asked her, raising his eyebrow slightly.

That was the last straw. She certainly didn't need him to come here and mock her. "Yes Kenobi I said no one!" she snarled. "No one cares!"

For a second, Obi-wan was silent. When he did speak, it was hesitantly and quietly. "Well then, Asajj, I guess you've forgotten what it means to care." The Jedi drew in a breath, then stepped towards her, leaned in, and pressed his lips to her cheek. The kiss lasted for less then a second, but Asajj's eyes widened at the gesture. He walked towards the door without another word, but stopped at the threshold and turned around. "Goodbye then darling." he said simply, his face flushed slightly. Then he walked out.

Asajj's mind mulled this over for a second. Why had he kissed her? Perhaps it was his way of saying goodbye. But something about what he had said made it sound like he knew. He knew he couldn't get rid of her that easily. It took a lot to kill Asajj Ventress, as Anakin had discovered after several failed attempts. Perhaps he liked her? No. No! She scowled at the thought. But on the other hand, what did she care if he had some affections for her? She didn't care about him. Not at all. But still, she'd show him. The next time they met, Obi-wan Kenobi would be quite embarrassed to find he'd kissed her goodbye, only to have her now pointing a lightsaber right in his face. Her scowl had dissolved into a smile, a slightly evil one. The next thing Obi-wan knew, she had force-pulled her lightsaber to hit the button, and leaped right over his head.

"See you around Kenobi!" he heard her call back as she stabbed the forcefield mechanism to shut down the window and stepped out, falling a few stories to the streets of Corusant. Obi-wan watched her. The clones certainly wouldn't be pleased, and neither would the counsel. He wouldn't be pleased either, on the outside at least. Inside, he felt a glimmer of pleasure. She got away. And of course the matter of that kiss...well, his plan _had_ worked. But he sure had set himself up for quite a bit of awkward next time they met. _The next time he saw her_...hopefully it would be soon.

**Up next: the much awaited gunship battle! Obi-wan will get his wish, but of course the tables might be turned this time... and Aayla is plunged into mortal danger! who can save her? Captain rex! at least he hopes... and we meet Padme for the first time, AND Ahsoka begins to reconsider her career...please review!**


	11. Chapter 10: On Lifesaving and Kissing

**Well! I took forever to update (I'm sorry!) but this time I give you TWO Jedi getting their lives saved and TWO kisses! How d'ya like them apples! Speaking of apples, I don't own Star Wars. (now you are wondering how star wars and apples are related, right? hehehe, I love messing with your minds...)**

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Chapter 10

"Alright men, this battle is big." Rex paced in front of the groups of clone troopers. "We must take out the clankers _and_ the Genocians. But stay out of the hives. Once you go in, you don't come out. Got it?"

"Sir yes sir!" chorused the clones.

"And remember to protect your generals, with your lives if necessary. Now head out men." The soldiers dispersed, each cluster heading towards a different gunship. He ran a mental check on each ship. General Kenobi was with Cody and his men, and General Skywalker with himself and his own men. General Tano, much to her displeasure, had to ride his ship, which meant she would be with her master. She very badly wanted her own gunship. And of course, General Secura, with Bly and his men. That Bly was a lucky commander.

Rex sighed and headed towards his own ship. He may be supreme clone leader, or as Ahsoka called him, Clone Head Honcho, but Bly got to work with Aayla daily. His date with Aayla hadn't worked very well. It was two days later, and she hadn't said a word to him. He just needed to give her a reason to look at him a new way. That was of course, assuming they both survived this battle. _Focus Rex. Win the battle first, then tackle your pathetic love life._

Obi-wan was thinking about his love life too. He'd kissed Ventress. The realization was flooding over him. She was going to _hate_ him for that. There was a pretty good chance he'd see her again on Genosis...maybe if he saved her life again? No, she hated that too. He didn't really know what to do now, just keep showing her kindness. He'd long since given up trying to convince himself that he just wanted to bring her back, or that he just wanted her to be a friend. He'd given in to the facts: he had a crush on his worst enemy. Which is just about the worst predicament a man can get into.

Obi-wan and Rex weren't the only ones thinking about love. Anakin was waiting with anticipation for the end of the battle, when Senator Amadala would be visiting the temple. The Knight couldn't help but grin when he thought about that. He'd be able to hopefully steal several minutes alone with her before she flew back to the Senate building for an evening session. If he was lucky, he'd be able to talk with her, maybe share a kiss or two?

Barriss was always dreaming about whichever boy was currently on her crush list, often more then one. Ahsoka had never been able to understand this. "_Why don't you just pick one and hang out with him? And really, I don't see why you like them anyway. None of the other Padawans seem interesting to me." "Someday, Ahsoka, you'll meet a boy who's a good match for you, then you'll understand." _It wasn't easy for Ahsoka, as she was significantly younger then all the other Padawans. All the boys her age were younglings, who didn't hang out with the Padawans.

Before long, all three gunships were deployed into the atmosphere of Genosis. And it wasn't long before there were ships come out to meet them. "Ships! The clankers gave those big bugs ships!" Rex hollered into his communicator. The red lights inside the gunships blared to life, and Ahsoka remembered how she'd felt when she first saw those lights, in her first battle. She'd been so afraid then, never having been on the front lines before. Now she was confident. She could handle those filthy bugs.

Anakin was not so confident. They'd had several near misses already, coming within inches of hitting the tall pointed mountains of Genosis. Finally he couldn't take the feeling of being helpless anymore. He shouldered his way through the clones holding onto the rails on the ceiling and into the cockpit, quite pleased that it could be accessed from inside on the latest model of gunship. A few seconds later, the pilot stormed out in a huff, muttering something about stupid Jedi who thought they knew it all. The ride had a lot more crazy swerves now, and Ahsoka had to stretch to her tallest to get a hold on the rails so she would fall right over.

Cody and his men deployed already, Obi-wan was now alone in the gunship. Deep in thought, he nearly fell right out the open door when the ship was suddenly jolted hard to the side. "Pilot, get those doors closed!" he hollered. That was when he saw that the pilot had been flung right out of the smashed windshield, and the cockpit was empty. Force! He had to fly this thing? _Oh how I hate flying... _Before he could head into the cockpit, a STAP vehicle flew up beside the ship, and Ventress leaped off it into the gunship.

She had intended on jumping into this pilot-less ship, killing any clones left inside, and taking it over, but suddenly she was face to face with Obi-wan. All her dreams of being so confident and smirking at him disappeared. Because right now, the only thing she wanted to do was throw her arms around him and whisper 'I love you'. A most ridiculous thing to even think about. She suppressed that urge, but she didn't know what to say to him. So as the out-of-control ship flew wildly among the mountains, the pair just stared at eachother.

That was when the ship slammed into a mountain top and swung to the side. Asajj managed to grab onto the edge of the door to steady herself, but there wasn't anything for Obi-wan to grab, and he plummeted down over the edge of the ship, managing to catch the very edge of the ship with his fingertips. He was rapidly slipping off, and he didn't dare look down, and just as he lost his grip and felt the horrible feeling of freefalling, a hand grasped his wrist. _Asajj. _He looked up to see her straining to hold on, fear written on her pale face. She managed to pull him up so that he could grab the edge and pull himself back in, and when he did, they both sat on the floor for a moment, breathing hard, before they got to their feet. Finally Obi-wan found something to say to her.

"You saved me." An incredibly obvious statement, but it meant something.

"Well, I owed you." She had to focus to keep that 'owed' from coming out as 'love', because that stupid mushy line was bouncing around her brain, and she didn't want to say it by mistake

"I see." She owed him. That was all there was to it. "I saved your life, so..."

"Yes. I owed you that. And if I recall correctly, I also owe you this." She crossed the few steps between them as she spoke, hesitated for a second, then leaned in and pressed her lips to his cheek. His heart skipped a beat. Maybe two. Or three. It was hard to tell when it was beating so incredibly fast.

After only a second, she pulled away, and, keeping her calm, collected air, she muttered, "How about I land this thing before I have to save you again, hmm?" Then she strode to the cockpit, and a second later, he felt the gunship descending. Obi-wan slowly raised one hand to his face, touching where she'd kissed him, then brought his hand down to his chin, lost in thought again. She didn't have to kiss him. But she had. Did that mean something? There was no more doubting it. He was head-over-heels. But was she?

"Hang on men! We're heading in for a landing." Aayla yelled as the gunship dropped down towards the rocky ground. One hand held the rail on the ceiling, and the other strayed to her belt, touching her lightsaber. As long as she had that, Everything felt better. BOOM! The gunship collided straight with an enemy ship sending the now wingless ship hurtling straight for the ground.

"We're gonna crash!" "Brace for impact!" "Blast it!" Aayla heard the clones shouting around her. She closed her eyes, still clinging to the rail, as the ship spiraled downwards. It hit the ground with a sickening crash that erupted into an explosion. Aayla was flung from the ship, slamming into the hard packed earth, hearing her own arm crack, feeling pain rush up her arm. Her other hand reached for her belt... her lightsaber! It was gone. She opened her eyes, blinking out dirt, and saw it lying on the ground, smashed to bits. Her arm felt like it was smashed to bits as well. The wound was bleeding, and the bone was poking through. The Twi'lik gritted her teeth and stood up. Her eyes widened. There were about a dozen super battle droids standing around her, blaster arms trained right at her. _Where was Bly? Anyone?_ She thought desperately.

"Hey you clankers!" The clone voice was from behind her. Bly! He'd made it! She whirled but was surprised to see not the yellow armor of her own captain, but the bright blue of Skywalker's. Rex! Had he gone crazy? He should be with Skywalker, not to mention he was going to get himself killed... the droids were turning slowly around to face the clone, too stupid he was a distraction. Unless the commander was sacrificing himself so she could get away? She felt a tug at her heart, but she had to focus. She somersaulted over the distracted droids, who were trying to figure out what this clone was doing. Aayla looked closer. What was he doing? He was dive-rolling back and forth, as though he were avoiding imaginary bullets. "Ha! You missed me!" he yelled, and Aayla had to grin. Droids were so stupid. She force-pushed all of them into the cliff wall behind them, then walked over to the captain, who had stood up and was brushing dust off his helmet.

"You saved me." She didn't know that at the exact same moment, a second Jedi was saying those exact same words. Before he could answer, a gunship swooped down next to them, Skywalker's little Padawan and several very beaten looking clones inside.

"Jump on!" Ahsoka yelled, and she and Rex simultaneously followed her instruction.

"Where's your master?"

"Flying the ship, where else." Ahsoka rolled her eyes, then looked over at Rex. "Where'd you _go_?"

"Just giving the general a little backup." he answered modestly.

Ahsoka filled Aayla in on the situation as they flew, joined by Kenobi's gunship, which was eerily empty. Only Obi-wan, Cody, and two privates remained in the ship, although one more was flying. Of Rex's men, four remained, and Bly had lost his whole squadron but for one, Jale. They were retreating from the battle. All were rather somber at the loss of the clones, and the ride was very quiet.

As they landed, Aayla noticed Rex heading back to the bunkers with the rest of the others. She was on her way to the med center in the Temple to get her arm taken care of. But then again, it could wait a minute...

"Rex!" The clone turned eagerly. He knew that voice, with its familiar accent. Bly gave him a funny look, but kept walking. Rex didn't even notice. He strode back over to her, ready for whatever she had to say. He certainly wasn't prepared for what she did say.

"Rex, I just wanted to thank you. There's no way I could have made it out of there myself, and you could have died trying something like that."

"It was nothing." he muttered rather sheepishly.

Aayla took a quick look around the hanger. Obi-wan, Anakin and Ahsoka had already wandered off towards their rooms; the clones were all disappeared into the bunker. She reached forward and pulled off his helmet to see his face. He looked stunned, and also embarrassed. "No really. It was incredibly brave." He didn't seem to have anything to say to this. "I was wondering if..." -suddenly she felt inclined to look down at his helmet, which she was still holding- "If you'd like to..." Why couldn't she finish? Why was she suddenly so stumbling?

"I'd be thrilled to." Much to her delight, he answered without waiting for her to finish.

"Great!" She looked back up at his face. "Then, I'll meet you in the gardens tomorrow? Right after the Jedi meeting?"

"Yeah." His eyes were still locked with hers. And they were really beautiful, a deep chocolaty sort of brown. Suddenly she leaned forward and kissed him, bringing her uninjured hand up to his armored shoulder. Rex, startled, just stood, enjoying the three seconds of pure heaven.

"I'll see you tomorow." she muttered, astonished to feel herself blushing. Then she walked off towards the medbay, and he, still wide-eyed and dreamy, headed towards the bunker.

"Yes!" said Ahsoka silently. She jumped down from her hiding place on top of the gunship, where she'd watched the whole scene. "That's five more credits for me!"

**Ah, Ahsoka, up to her usual tricks. plus, I set up Rex and Aayla on a REAL date, and Obi-wan and Asajj will finally be together...in maybe two chapters? three? meh, I'll work on it. and...Oops! I forgot Padme! oh well. She'll appear next chapter. please reveiw! **


	12. Chapter 11: Temple gossip, temple drama

**Hey everyone! sorry this took so long, I didn't exatly get stuck, just sort of...eh. well, I kept my promise, Padme is here! and Ahsoka has decided that a doctor of love is not exactly the career for her... the rest you'll have to read! **

**I don't own Padme. How could I? I've already told you I don't own the rest, so what sense would it make if I only owned Padme? :P**

**EDIT: oh my gosh guys. I forgot to give the names of the reveiwers! I'm really sorry about that, I promise I won't forget again! So, here are the people who deserve my gratitude, and as a special treat, a cyber-hug from Skyguy! Terra Young, suziePatricia, Suziepatricia, RoMythe, Jedi-dreamer-101, Terra Young, bluesaber3, bluesaber3, fanboy for rongo, Terra Young, blusaber3, Pearlmaidenredskyla, fanboy for rongo, Jedi-dreamer-101, and Terra Young. Thanks guys!**

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Chapter 11

"I don't believe you."

"Come on Master! I saw them with my own eyes! Rex and Aayla kissed!"

"You got any proof?"

Ahsoka scowled. "Next time I'll have proof! I'm going to be a reporter!" This announcement was made at the top of her lungs. Several people in the hallway outside the courtyard turned and stared at the master-padawan pair, including Senator Padme Amadala.

Anakin removed his fingers from his ears before he started talking. "I thought you were a doctor of love." He raised one eyebrow.

"Well, I think I'm giving up on that, given that Rexy fired me."

"He _fired _you?"

"Yes. He said that he didn't need me to set up 'fake' dates for him anymore because Aayla asked him out." She made air quotes around the word 'fake'. "So I'm going into the reporting biz. Barriss and I are starting a magazine- _Temple Gossip." _She pulled a rough draft out of her backpack and handed it to him.

"Um, Ahsoka, why are you wearing a..."

"Backpack? It's to carry all my equipment around. Say cheese!" She pulled out a very expensive looking camera as she spoke and snapped several pictures of Anakin, who attempted to pull it away from her but with no results. "Those will be for the article about your many lightsabers. Now I only need one of you and Padme for the page about you guys' secret admirings."

"Are all the magazines about me? Hey! I don't wanna be on the cover!" Two of the titles on the cover read, 'A.S.'s new crush!'

Ahsoka pulled the magazine draft back. "You're not. This one," she pointed, "Is about Aayla, and this one...is a surprise. But don't worry, it won't be you." Then she skipped off, humming 'The way it was on Tatooine', a popular song that was her current favorite.

Padme stepped towards Anakin as the padawan turned the corner. "Well. It looks like you'll have your hands full." Anakin turned around happily. Padme took a quick glance around to make sure the hallway really was empty before she lunged towards Anakin and threw her arms around his neck.

"Padme it's been way too long..." the Jedi trailed off, and the senator picked up for him.

"I know. With missions and Senate meetings and other people getting in the way, its a wonder I've seen you at all." Anakin pulled away from her tight hug before leaning in again to kiss her. For a few moments, both Senator Amadala and Master Skywalker were alone in their own world, a world just for them where there were no laws about what Jedi could and couldn't do.

"Anakin..." Padme couldn't think of anything else to say when their lips finally parted. "Anakin, I've missed you."

"I know. And just yesterday I..." he stopped suddenly as he heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Both backed away from eachother several steps, Padme sitting down on a garden bench, and Anakin leaning against the high edge of the fountain. "Yesterday we suffered a loss, but I think we could...Oh hi Obi-wan!" Anakin forced himself to smile at his master, when what he really wanted to do was shove his master out, slam the door, and kiss his wife again.

"Anakin, Senator Amadala. It's nice to see both of you here." Obi-wan sat down on the edge of another fountain, giving Anakin a smile that told it all. Obi-wan knew what Anakin was really doing here, but he'd get in the way...just for the fun of it. After all, Anakin had given him a nice teasing about Asajj the other day, with her standing there and everything.

Senator Amadala, however, was not the least bit discouraged. "General Kenobi! Just who I've been looking for. I was hoping you could go take a look at an abandoned temple on Naboo I believe might be occupied by Separatists."

"Why don't you ask Anakin? He seems to be quite fond of you."

Said Jedi coughed slightly to hide his embarrassment.

"Oh, but I was hoping you could do it. I'm not exactly sure someone as, erm, _enthusiastic, _as Anakin is right for this mission. He'd most likely get bored and start trouble." Padme gave him her most gracious 'senator' smile.

Obi-wan sighed. There was no polite way out of this assignment, and he couldn't just tell a senator that she was only doing this to get rid of him. And Naboo _was_ only a short trip away.

"Come on Master." Anakin was smirking now. "If there are no Separatists, you can come right back. And if there are, you might get lucky and meet Ventress!" Obi-wan let out a deep breath, attempting to calm himself.

"Isn't Ventress dead?" Padme put in.

"Nope. She's quite alive, unfortunately. Obi-wan _still _thinks he can bring her back."

"I can. You'll see." Obi-wan strode out of the room, all thoughts of annoying Anakin gone and replaced with his usual thoughts- those of Dooku's dark apprentice.

Anakin stood up. "Nice one Padme." He smiled down at her as she too got up.

"The least I can do to get a little alone time with my favorite Jedi." She laid her hands back on Anakin's shoulders as she spoke, and soon the pair was kissing once again.

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As his starfighter touched down, Obi-wan couldn't help but think that Padme was right. The temple had the definite look of something the Separatists would take over. It was a run down old place, several stories high, made entirely of stone. General Kenobi leapt from the cockpit of his starfighter and strode towards the old building. As he entered, shadows surrounded him. Despite the crumbled look, it was still incredibly dark inside. He ignited his lightsaber, using the blue glow to see some of his surroundings. It was even more eerie inside, with only his lightsaber and the long shafts of light coming in through the occasional missing stones. The holes also let the wind in, which whistled in a haunted sort of way. He'd only ventured a few steps in, when he heard the sound of another lightsaber igniting-two actually. Red light added into the blue already given out by his own saber, and he whirled, knowing who'd be there.

"Ah, Kenobi. Always the one to find me aren't you?" Asajj was surprised to find that her own heart was dancing. Ever since...well, no, it had always been this way with Kenobi.

"Quite right, my dear. We have been meeting a lot lately."

"Far too often if you ask me. Or perhaps it's not enough, as I haven't caught you yet. This time, sweetheart, things will be very different." The light of battle was shining in her eyes again, but Obi-wan wasn't going to let himself get captured, even if it did make her happy. He wouldn't trade anything for those moments when adrenaline raced, swords were crossed, and he got incredibly close to her. _Not close enough_, he couldn't help but think. Perhaps there was one thing he'd trade- a few moments with their arms around eachother.

Ventress leapt forward, her blades striking his with a sound he'd heard many times before. But somehow, his fight lacked what all the other fights had. She'd never experienced a duel like this, one so incredibly..._safe. _It felt as though there was no danger, as though it were as simple as two Jedi igniting their training lightsabers and having a nice round of practice. This was Kenobi! But he wasn't fighting like himself, because he could feel it too. Asajj smiled inwardly. Might as well take advantage of that... She sent him stumbling backwards with a slight force push, then attacked again, blades clashing faster now, matching her heartbeat. It had grown faster as the fight continued. _Adrenaline. It's only adrenaline. Nothing to do with him. _His eyes locked with hers between clashed blades.

"Excellent my dear. But I'm afraid we both know the outcome of this fight."

His words gave her a spark of motivation. She'd show him. But somehow it wasn't the same 'She'd show him.' That she had thought so many times before. For once, she didn't have any intention of hurting him. She just wanted him to see that he wasn't better then her. That she could beat him. And she did. One swift kick sent the lightsaber flying from his hand; she pulled it to her own hand and pointed all three sabers at him.

"I certainly do know the outcome, my sweet Obi-wan. You will be coming with me." He gazed at her, somehow unable to believe it, both himself and her. She had won. He had assumed that he'd beat her, let her go. But now she was handcuffing him, leading him through winding hallways. And himself. He was going insane. He'd lost. HE was bing led through winding hallways. And he didn't really feel worried about it. Love really did make one crazy.

"Wait here. Not that you'll have a choice or anything." She gave him a small smirk that made a shiver run down his back before she handcuffed him to one of the tall pillars. Up ahead he could see a hologram of Count Dooku, and by the light the hologram produced, a man, standing, head bowed.

"You're going to tell Count Dooku about me?"

"Well, he did want to speak with you. You remember that don't you? And then you had to get away?"

"Of course. Dooku will be sure to kill me. Another enemy out of your way." And then he did the worst thing he could possibly have done. He just looked at her, just looked into her eyes. She felt like her breath was being pulled away from her. Would it be so horrible to tell her master? Not kill Obi-wan, just tell her master. But inside, she knew it would be a death sentence for him. And by now she was sure: he was one Jedi she wanted to live. But would it be so hard? Just three words: Kenobi is here. That thought brought back the other three words that were so simple but hard to say: I love you. No! She was most certainly not falling for a Jedi! Not for anyone! And not for Kenobi.

That was when she saw a man standing there, talking to her master. She strode over, about to ask him who he was and what he was doing here. As she got closer, she saw that he was a Togrota, about Skywalker's height, and looked rather easygoing.

Holo-Dooku saw her coming, as he turned towards her and began talking. "Ah, Ventress. I've been waiting." He was silent a moment, waiting for her explanation.

"Sorry Master, I..." she paused, then rushed on. "I got caught in an asteroid field."

Dooku bought her excuse. "Very well. I'd like to introduce you to my newest assassin, Altono Farce. Farce, you will be working with Ventress on a new assignment." Asajj looked him over and wasn't impressed. His left hand was slightly callused, but not his right, which meant he either didn't fight with a saber, or he was learning one handed, which was highly unlikely.

"Can he even use a lightsaber?" She glanced back at her master.

"No. He is an excellent marksmen, and I thought it might be useful to have a long range assassin. You must get close to your opponents to kill them, and he can strike from far off."

"So, he's like my apprentice?" She raised one eyebrow.

Altono objected to this. "I'm not your apprentice. I learn only from the best." Dooku smiled at this, so obviously it meant Dooku was going to train him.

"Is he force-sensitive? Because otherwise we could just save ourselves the trouble and hire a bounty hunter."

"Slightly. He'll improve over time as you did."

"He'll never be as good as I am. He's not strong enough; I can sense it."

"I'm right here, you know." Altono snarled.

Dooku broke off the argument before it began. "Both of you shut up. I want you to wait here. Do not go into the temple. Just wait here for further instructions." Dooku, as usual, ended the transmission before either one could object. Asajj rolled her eyes and strode back over to Kenobi, released him from the pillar, and walked back over to where Altono stood.

"Who's this?"

"It's a Jedi, you idiot. Can't you even recognize a Jedi when you see one?" She had a look on her face that was almost laughing, not quite. Obi-wan inwardly groaned as she spoke. This was going to be a long day.

"Well excuse me. Usually Jedi don't look this pathetic."

Obi-wan wouldn't have bothered saying anything to a comment like that, but Asajj obviously did. "Ha! You have the nerve to call Kenobi pathetic. And you can't even hold a saber."

"This is the great Kenobi?"

"Of course."

"Then why didn't you tell Dooku he was here?"

"It's uh..." Blast it! This idiot would ruin everything!

"It's a surprise. Last time the Count wanted a personal meeting I had to spoil everything by blowing up the ship and escaping. How troublesome of me." Obi-wan covered for her.

"It was exceedingly obnoxious. And you nearly blew me up as well."

"Hey, I did help you, remember?"

"That doesn't change the fact that you blew up my ship."

"Touché. I think we're over that though, aren't we?"

Altono found it necessary to interrupt at this point. "Wait, he _helped_ you?"

"He's a Jedi. They feel the need to help everyone."

Altono had turned towards the entrance to the rest of the temple. "I'm heading in there." he announced.

"No, you're not. Dooku said not to."

"Of, course, you can stay here, if you're afraid of the dark." the Togrota called over his shoulder as he strode inside.

Ventress, naturally couldn't turn down an invitation like this. "Of course not. Come on Kenobi." She handcuffed him to herself and walked in, leading him reluctantly behind.

"Can't we just kill him and be done with it?"

This Altono was obviously a lot like Skywalker: arrogant, obnoxious, and liked killing enemies. Just what she needed, a Skywalker wanna-be. "No."

"Excellent." Said Obi-wan from her side. "I was hoping to live another day."

"Is that supposed to be sarcasm?" Altono complained.

" no, I really would appreciate living longer. Thank you my dear."

Altono pounced on that one innocent word. "Dear? Really? You're sure we can't shoot him?"

Her temper snapped. "I said no! Get your own Jedi for crying out loud! This one's mine!"

Obi-wan shot Altono something of a look. "Hm. I'm hers."

"Kenobi, do you have to... I didn't mean..." She struggled with anger, annoyance, and slight embarrassment. Why did Kenobi have to be so... so everything? Everything she longed for. She pushed away all thoughts of him and kept walking through the temple.

"You two like eachother." announced Altono. He was obviously better then Anakin at one thing.

"I do not!" they both declared at the same time. Only being handcuffed to eachother, they smacked into eachother while trying to turn around. Neither one could bear to meet the other's eyes.

"He's a filthy Jedi! I would never feel anything for him or anyone!" She snarled as soon as she had removed the handcuffs and stepped a good distance from Kenobi.

"Say what you want. You like him. Deep down you know it." He muttered, then continued walking as though it really didn't concern him. But he couldn't take it. He wheeled around and burst out laughing. "You have no idea how obvious it is! I should just call Dooku and make the wedding announcements!"

"Shut up, you idiot or the only dead one will be you." Ventress pulled out one lightsaber and took a step towards him, but Obi-wan's hand caught hers and stopped her. Then she felt somehow incredibly lightheaded. He was holding her hand. Obi-wan was holding her hand. It made her wonder how it would feel to have his hand caress the rest of her arm, her shoulder.

Altono had stopped laughing now, but he was still smirking. Obi-wan remembered to drop her hand before the obnoxious assassin said anything about that too. "I will call Dooku though. And tell him about your precious Jedi prisoner."

"You wouldn't."

"I would."

"Not if you want to keep your head."

"I don't think he'd be very pleased to find out you killed his newest assassin. Especially to save a Jedi." Altono pulled out his communicator slowly.

"Don't!" she paused then, "Please."

"Ha! So you admit you want to save his life." Ventress didn't say anything. "How about this. I don't tell Dooku about this filthy Jedi."

"Thank you." She muttered, rolling her eyes again.

"I didn't say I'd do it for nothing."

"What do you want? You're going to blackmail me for the rest of your life?"

"I could. You probably aren't poor. Or maybe you'd like to kiss me." Ventress looked horrified, and Obi-wan felt a surge of jealousy. Altono took one more step back, and it was the last step he ever took. The floor of the temple collapsed under him. Several of the pillars fell with it, and so did the now unsupported ceiling.

"Down!" yelled Obi-wan, and they both dove to the floor, laying near the wall, where the floor was least likely to collapse. It was terrifying, even for someone who had been through quite a lot of explosions. Her eyes were closed to keep out dust, a horrible roaring filled her ears, she was pressed tight against Obi-wan, who was pressed to the wall, she suddenly felt his arm go around her, pulling her in closer. Somehow, it was comforting, even though his arm wouldn't be any help if a ton of stone landed on her. Altono had been right, she realized in the midst of the miniature earthquake. She'd fallen hard for Obi-wan.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rex paced the gardens, nervous beyond belief. Who knew dating could be this hard? Finally Aayla emerged, and he couldn't believe his eyes. She wasn't wearing her usual top, skirt and leggings. She was wearing _jeans_. And a bright orange shirt with sparkles at the neckline.

"Hey Rex." Again, to his surprise, she seemed even more nervous then he did. She was playing with her lightsaber, tossing it from palm to palm. She sat down at one of the outdoor tables, and Rex joined her. For an extremely awkward moment, they just sat, looking at the sky, the trees, or, in Aayla's case, her lightsaber.

"So, um, lovely weather, huh?" Rex spoke simply for the sake of having something to say, and he knew he sounded like an idiot. Asking about the weather. Pathetic.

"Yes, it's been pretty nice on Corusant lately." She rolled the lightsaber slowly back and forth on the table, still not looking at him. That was when Rex got an idea. More of a sudden impulse actually. But he leaned across the table and stole the saber right from her hands. She looked up, surprised, and he flashed her a grin.

"Oh, it's on now." she told him in that pretty accent, challenge written on her face. She pounced towards him, but his soldier reflexes told him she was coming. He dodged, while she darted towards him. The chase went on for a few minutes, dashing about the garden, until she finally leapt to his back and he fell over. Laughing, she wrenched the weapon from his hand, then flopped on the grass next to him. Now all the awkwardness was gone, and their conversation flowed freely. That is, until they heard Master Windu's voice.

"What's going on here?"

**Mwahahaha! I give you another cliffhanger! sort of. anyway, reveiw, and you get this teaser:**

**Next up, Obi-wan and Asajj discover they're not alone in the temple, and of course you'll find out what's up with Macey finding Rex and Aayla. Also, the first issue of Temple Gossip, and maybe I'll throw in a kiss?**

**please reveiw! even if you had reveiwed before I love reading what you guys have to say! and tell me... do you want Altono back? or should he be gone for good? **


	13. Chapter 12: the Temple: part two

**Ok guys, chapter 12!**

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Chapter 12

Aayla scrambled up from where she'd been lying just as Mace came around the corner.

"Ah, master Windu. I was um..."

"...looking at my ankle!" Rex finished, having now sat up somewhat. "I fell and twisted it."

"You fell and twisted your ankle?" Mace asked skeptically.

"Um, yes. Ow." This statement, combined with the serious look on Rex's face, nearly caused Aayla to burst out laughing, but luckily she was standing behind Mace and he didn't notice.

"Well, you'd better get down to the medic then." Mace headed off through the rest of the garden, looking as serious as always. _I wonder what would happen if someone gave him caffeine..._ Aayla thought, watching his cape swish as he walked off. Rex got to his feet behind her, and she turned around and smiled at him.

"Nice one. I was worried we'd be caught."

"Does it matter? I mean, we were just sitting there, talking, looking at the sky..."

"Yeah, but you know Mace. If he'd found out we were, you know," she coughed slightly, then took a particular interest in a bright yellow butterfly sitting on a small pink flower, "A couple," she muttered sounding rather distracted, then never finished the rest of her sentence. Rex finished it for her.

"Bad things happen."

"Exactly!" She looked back at his face. "Very bad things! Like, uhh, we get dipped in liquid chocolate and covered in sprinkles!"

Rex grinned. "And then, we have to clean out the entire cafeteria, without using the cleaning droids."

Aayla sank down on the grass again, and Rex followed her example. The pair sat for a few minutes, naming odd punishments Mace would inflict upon them if he found out they were a couple. But in the back of Rex's mind, only one question surged. Were they a couple? They seemed to be getting along fine, now that most of the nervousness was gone. But there was always danger in a forbidden love. Either one of them could die. Any battle, any day, one of them might not come back. And of course, if they were found out. But did Aayla really like him? She seemed to. So Rex relaxed and enjoyed his date. They were both having such a good time that neither noticed it was growing dark until Aayla couldn't even see his face anymore.

"It's getting dark. Maybe we should head in." muttered Rex practically. "Maybe to the cafeteria?"

"Yeah, maybe we could do some cleaning while we're there." she joked, then flopped back on the ground. "Geez, look at all those stars." Rex glanced up. "Each one is another system, with planets and moons and all the people...It just makes you feel so small, you know?" He'd seen the stars before, and didn't expect it to be anything special, but when she described them like that, they seemed to take on a whole new feel. "And when you think of them as just...little twinkly things..."

Rex glanced at her. "Little _twinkly_ things?"

"You know what I mean. They're just so amazing." As she spoke, she twined her pale blue fingers with his. It was a long while before either of them moved or spoke. They just held hands and looked at the stars, occasionally each glancing at the other.

Finally Aayla dropped his hand and stood up, stretching. "I have to get inside. Lunch tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Well, bye then." She waited for a second, then turned around slowly.

"Wait. Aayla, do you mind..." He blushed slightly, something he never did.

"I was hoping you'd say that." She smiled slightly as she turned back around in the dark, heart pounding as Rex leaned towards her, head tilted slightly. Lips met lips, Rex slid his hands gently up and down her lekku, and Aayla wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Needless to say, it was a while before either went inside.

It felt like forever before the stone stopped falling. Asajj and Obi-wan both stood up, brushing off dust and looking around.

"Look." whispered Asajj, pointing towards the door where they'd come in. The gaping hole in the floor blocked the door, which was partially filled with chunks of broken stone.

"There's no way we're getting back out there." Obi-wan spoke quietly. A single shout could set the rocks falling again.

"Then we'll find a new way out." she determined as she walked carefully towards the edge of the hole, peering down it. No sign of Altono. Maybe he was gone? Maybe that was a good thing. No more blackmail.

"Any sign of him?" Kenobi had come up behind her.

"No. And it's his own fault. He never should have come in here." She rolled her eyes dramatically as she turned away, muttering her last comment so softly he almost didn't hear her. "Arrogant as you."

"Excuse me?" he whirled after her, mocking offence.

"Well, you are sometimes." she defended herself, walking quickly enough to keep ahead of him.

He caught her arm and pulled her around so she was looking directly at him. "So you'd rather I wasn't here?" he asked softly, humor and affection lighting his face.

She gazed, responseless, breathless. Obi-wan too found that suddenly, he couldn't leave this trance. Their eyes were locked again, just as they had been so very long ago, in the separatist base. Finally Obi-wan broke the moment again, shaking his head slightly and smiling as he turned around and kept walking. He couldn't do it. He'd wanted to kiss her.

They walked through the temple for who knew how long when they came to a narrow ledge up against a wall. On the other side, a long, long fall.

"Can't go around it." Ventress muttered under her breath.

"Gotta go over it." Obi-wan finished. They both inched along, backs to the wall, when one of the stones under the assassin's foot came out of the wall and tumbled down the pit. She almost followed it. Almost. Obi-wan caught her by one hand and pulled her back. She relaxed for a second, hen realized how remarkably close she was to him. She took a hurried step back, forgetting about the bottomless chasm directly behind her. She would have plummeted again, except that Obi-wan, seeing it coming, linked one arm around her waist and pulled her right back to him.

"Don't step back this time. There's nothing to step onto." he whispered into her ear, and she nodded, heart racing. They crossed the rest of the ledge without event.

It was in the center of the room on the other side when an event did happen. It was in the center of the room on the other side when Asajj suddenly fell to her knees, then collapsed, a dart sticking out of the back of her neck.

Obi-wan dropped at her side, horrified and again strangely déjà vu'd. Much to his relief, she was simply knocked out. But who had shot it? And would whoever it was be after him?

"Who's there?" he called out standing up and drawing his lightsaber.

"Ah, Kenobi. So sorry to bother you again, my old friend, but I was a bit short of cash. A republic ransom for you and your girlfriend should do nicely." Obi-wan recognized the voice.

"Hando." Pause. "And she's not my girlfriend, she's an enemy."

The pirate stepped out of the shadows. "I don't particularly care. Now Kenobi, I'd appreciate it if you'd follow me. Or else." Hando added darkly.

"You honestly think you can take on an armed Jedi?" Obi-wan raised one eyebrow in amusement.

"Alone? Of course not. But, since you won't come quietly, I guess my sweetheart will have to tranq you. So sorry." Obi-wan whirled to see Aurua Sing, pointing a small dart gun right at him.

"Night night." she said evilly, then pulled the trigger.

Asajj woke first, coming slowly back to consciousness. It was then that she realized that she was sprawled half on top of Kenobi's chest. She jerked away, blushing fiercely, before she realized that he was as out of it as she'd been only a few minutes ago. She breathed a small sigh of relief. She didn't need him to find out anything about that. She'd already been embarrassingly yet delightfully close to him twice today. The rattatakki glanced down at his face, slightly surprised to find herself admiring him. Then she forced herself to concentrate, and instead looked around the small room. It was still inside the temple, as it was made almost completely of the same stone. Almost. Someone had replaced the empty door frame with modern metal doors. Her eyes lit not on the door, but on the small vent hole directly above it. Asajj's train of thought, however, was interupted by movement from Obi-wan.

"Asajj? Where are we?"

"Cell. Same temple as before. And who has us?"

"Hando and Aurua."

"They're together again?"

Obi-wan looked surprised. "I didn't know they ever had been."

Asajj rolled her eyes in response. "They've been on and off the past month or so. Waste of time, all the making up and breaking up." She stood up, still gazing at the vent. "If they're going to be together, they should just be together."

Obi-wan smiled slightly to himself, slightly wishing she'd follow her own advice. But then again, he'd been the one who'd pulled away from that trance earlier. They were both dancing carefully around the topic of affection, hiding what they felt. Why?

"Do you think we could fit through that vent?" she asked, still gazing at it.

He snapped out of thought and focused on escape. "No."

"But do you think I could fit through that vent?"

"A very different question, darling." He smiled slightly. "I think so." Obi-wan held out his hand for her to step on, then boosted her up so she could grab the edge of the vent and pull herself through. Only a few seconds passed before the door was opened.

"Good." Obi-wan whispered as he strode through the door. "Now let's get out of here before..."

"Before we realize you're escaping?" From the sound of her voice, Aurra was very much enjoying recapturing the two prisoners.

"Blast." muttered Ventress as Hando steeped from the shadows to stand beside his girlfriend.

"We figured you'd try to escape, considering that I've seen you try to do the same thing before. Now, if the two of you will kindly come back to the cell with us..."

Aurra interrupted. "They must be punished for what they've done."

"Well, dearest, I really hate to, especially since Kenobi and I are what you could call friends."

"Friends, ha." Obi-wan whispered.

"Well, closer friends then you and the assassin you seem to be cooperating so well with. I quite frankly expected you two to fight."

"We know when we have to be enemies and when we can work together." Asajj sounded slightly annoyed at Hando expecting her to have no common sense.

"Hando. Can I zap them with the electrostaff or not?" Aurra hissed impatiently.

"Very well darling. Anything for you." Hando whirled, cape swishing, Obi-wan briefly wondering when he'd decided to wear a cape. He was soon distracted from this thought as Aurra ignited a vicious looking electrostaff.

"Wait. I'll take hers for her." He didn't exactly know what made him say it. But he didn't want to see her in pain.

"Obi-wan what the force..." she hissed into his ear, but for once he ignored her.

"That's not fair..." said Aurra at the same time. She seemed genuinely confused at kindness.

Hando clarified the situation. "Well, if the Jedi insists, then let him. It'll make him weaker anyway. Harder for them to get out again. I'll take this one back to the cell." The pirate gripped Asajj's wrist and led her away. He was just locking her back in the cell and sealing off the vent when she heard Obi-wan scream. Twice. She'd heard him scream before, but it was different now. _She_ should be the one screaming.

Soon Obi-wan found himself thrown back in the cell, flat on his back.

"That was stupid." came her voice from above him. He opened his eyes, then drew in a breath when he noticed that she was leaning over him. Asajj brushed a strand of his hair out of his face with a gentle hand. "You'll be weaker now, and it'll be harder for us to escape this cell. It was completely foolish -but sweet." Her hard voice grew soft and affectionate for the last two words.

"Was it?" whispered Obi-wan.

"Yeah." She seemed to be a bit confused by what she was feeling. "It was really...sweet." Suddenly she was leaning closer, tilting her head slightly, lips parted. _Oh force, _he realized, _She's about to kiss me._ Their lips were inches apart, an inch, a fraction of an inch, a heart beat...

She jerked back suddenly as the door opened, and both Hando and Aurra strolled in. Hando looked completely unaware of what he'd interrupted, but Aurra seemed to realize it, though she said nothing.

"Now. I'm sad to have to tell you this, but if you try to escape again, we're going to have no choice but to kill you." Aurra elbowed him and hissed something in his ear. "Well, not you Kenobi. But the other one, well, I'm not sure how much of a ransom we'll get for you anyway. And if I contact Dooku, he'll just storm the place. So. Stay _here,_ in your cell, and it all goes well. Understand?" Neither graced him with a response. "Excellent. Now, Aurra, I was just thinking that..." The door closed, and they didn't get to hear what he'd been thinking.

"We need to get out of this cell." muttered Asajj, standing back up. Things were awkward between them now. If she'd never tried to kiss him, things would have been awkward as normal. If she actually had...

"But you heard what he said. You'll be killed."

"We have to try. Now get up and start looking."

"But what if he kills you?"

"I don't fancy being sold back to the republic. Do you?" She still wasn't meeting his gaze.

"The floor." he said suddenly.

"What?"

"The floor collapsed before, it can again. All we have to do is find a loose enough stone." Asajj caught his meaning, and quickly found the center stone of the small cell. They both stepped onto it, then Asajj, seeing nothing was happening, jumped. The stone collapsed beneath them, sending the lovers-but-not and most the floor plummeting down to the ground level. As they both sat up from the dust, Obi-wan spotted, through a large hole in the wall, his starfighter. He glanced at Asajj questioningly, who nodded. He was free.

But as he was walking towards it, Obi-wan heard her voice behind him. "You know Obi-wan?" He turned to look at her face. "I rather have missed you. Even if you are Jedi scum." She brushed past him as she spoke, headed to her own ship.

"Scum?" he asked half to himself. But she was already in the ship, taking off.

Anakin as well was watching a taking off ship longingly. Padme had just left. And as the Jedi walked out of the hanger forlornly, he spotted something odd. Everyone in the Temple was reading something. Aayla and Rex sat on a bench, sharing a copy and laughing. Luminara was leaning against a pillar, completely engrossed. Jedi were seated here and there, not paying any attention to anything else. Clones walked past, noses buried in copies of...of..._TEMPLE GOSSIP? _

"Ahsoka!"

"What?" The Padawan was the only one without a magazine, but she had a few in her backpack.

"Have you been giving out those magazines?"

"Giving them out? Are you insane? I've been selling 'em. Want one? Only 15 credits for all the juiciest gossip in the temple!"

Anakin groaned and dug in his pocket. Might as well find out what she was up to. Ahsoka grinned and pulled out a copy of _Temple Gossip, _which, he had to admit, was pretty professional looking. The Jedi flipped through, pausing to read bits of "A.S.-who she's hanging out with lately!", which was about Aayla and Rex. Wait, Aayla and Rex? He glanced over at them. They sure did have the look of a couple. He flipped through some more. There was the second A.S. article: Aurra Sing and Hando?

"Aurra Sing? Hando? What gave you that idea?"

"Heard it from Shaak Ti."

"You gotta be kidding."

"She's not." Obi-wan's voice sounded weary. "Aurra and Hando are very much together. I should know. I just saw them."

"Oh, hi, Master! How was your trip?" Anakin smiled widely at his master, rather proud of the fact that Obi-wan had been out of the way all afternoon. And Ahsoka had obviously been too busy with her magazine to notice Padme's presence.

"Horrible." Obi-wan sank down into a chair. "Pirates. Bounty hunters, Separatists." Before Anakin could say anything else however, Ahsoka tossed him a magazine.

"You can have one free of charge. You deserve it after a day like that. There's a embarrassing story about Anakin on page 26."

"Thanks." said Obi-wan, glancing at the headlines. Anakin just scowled.

**next chapter they attack the ship! reveiw please! (and yes, I made them almost kiss. I is EVIL!)**


	14. Chapter 13: Eyes on the skies

**Hi there everyone! I have a perfectly good excuse as to why I haven't updated in so long, but I'll spare you. unless you want to read my babbling, in which case, it's below.**

***excuse* I saw Megamind in theaters, and I became obsessed with that, and you know how hard it is to write for one genre when you're thinking about another? hard. then I finally got my brain screwed on, but my life is just like ARGH! busy. I finally got a free day to catch up a bit. *end excuse***

**And last time, I didn't have time to type the names of all the reveiwers, but I'll do that right now.  
Thanks to: Bluesaber3, The PearlMaiden, fan boy for Rongo, Jedi-dreamer-101, TerraYoung, Sheila V, Casscat, Olen Jedi ikuisesti, RKF22, and Scifilover. some of you multiple times too. oh, and thanks to the people who pointed out that I was spelling Togruta wrong! **

**Finally, A special surprise. I has caved to your continous demands for Obi/Asajj kissing. they kiss in the following chapter. twice actually. so, now you really want to read it don't you? Well, I'll stop talking and let you read!**

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Chapter 13

" I can't believe you would do that to me Snips! Everyone in the Temple read that stupid story!"

"Hey, I printed stories about everyone."

"Yeah, everyone except you and Barriss."

"I just printed the truth." The Padawan spun round and round in her co-pilots chair.

"So? Did you really have to tell everyone that I was the one?"

"Well the people want to know Master. When a birthday cake for Yoda, of all people, goes missing..." Ahsoka shrugged.

"I didn't know it was Yoda's cake!"

"You knew it wasn't yours. And I'm surprised you're not more mad about the story with Padme."

"_What?_" Anakin whirled to look at her, and the Twilight jolted to the side.

Obi-wan, who was sitting in the back, closed his eyes slightly. "Anakin, please keep your eyes on the skies."

Ahsoka laughed. "Eyes on the skies, master Kenobi?"

"You printed a story about me and Padme?" Anakin asked urgently, still turned away from the windshield.

"Anakin, please, for the sake of all of our lives, watch where you're going!" ordered Obi-wan.

"Well, yes. And one about Aayla and Rex, and one about Obi's obsession. And a few more too."

"Wait, what?" said Obi-wan suddenly, not even caring that Anakin still wasn't looking where he was flying. "You wrote about me and Asajj, er, Ventress?"

"No, not like that, just that you want to bring her back to the light side."

Obi-wan sighed and sat back down, then stood up, pointing out the windsheild in horror. "Anakin SHIP!"

"Huh? Master, wha-" Anakin whirled and saw he was about to slam right into the large ship they'd been sent to attack. "Oh. Whoops." He jerked the control stick hard to the left, and the ship whirled sideways gracefully, sending Obi-wan's coffee mug sliding down the bench, but he caught it just before it hit the floor.

"I thought you didn't drink coffee," said Ahsoka, noticing the mug for the first time.

"No, I don't drink caffeine. This," said Obi-wan, taking a sip, "is decaf."

"How can you live without caffeine?" asked Anakin, as he docked the ship on the outside of the large ship and operated the magnets. " 'Cause I sure couldn't."

"Don't I know it." muttered Obi-wan.

As the three Jedi jumped nimbly through the hole where the Twilight connected to the large battle ship, Obi-wan sensed it again. That familiar, wonderful presence. _She _was here. Obi-wan volunteered to go into the safe to retrieve the information, in the hopes she'd be there, but it was empty. He strode back out just in time to see Anakin slash through her body and force-push her backwards off a balcony.

"No! Anakin!"

The other Jedi whirled. "Master, I'm sorry I just, I got carried away."

Obi-wan heaved a deep sigh in some desperate attempt to rid his chest of the cold feeling of dread, of fear. "You two go handle droids, I'll see if..." he couldn't bear to admit she might be dead or dying. Anakin looked rather guilty as he led the Padawan down a seperate hallway. As soon as they were out of sight range, Kenobi scrambled down the staircase, spotting her form laying still and sprawled out on the metal floor.

"Asajj?" He threw himself down to his knees at her side, snatched up her wrist, searching frantically for a pulse. There wasn't one. Or if there was, he just couldn't find one. But her eyes had opened, and she sat up slightly.

"Gotcha," she told him once again, but her voice was weak this time.

"Oh, Ventress..." An overwhelming feeling of relief swept through him, and he slipped one arm under her head. He had never let go of her hand that he'd first caught up. "I'll get you to a medical bay, you'll live, you'll-"

"There is no bay on this ship. Just a droid repair shop, and I don't think that'll do me much good." She smiled slightly. Obi-wan glanced down at the slash in her side, and was relieved to see it wasn't as deep as he had thought at first.

"Then we could get to the Twilight, and treat you there."

"No. Then I'll be your prisoner." Her voice had a hopeless sort of note in it.

"I don't care about that now. We just have-"

"Obi-wan." He stopped and looked at her. "The Republic is going to execute me."

His deep blue eyes opened wider. "No. No, there has to be something, I can't just leave you here to die!"

Suddenly there was power in her voice as she asked the question she'd always wanted to ask him. "Why? Why does it matter so much to you? Why."

He hesitated, then his voice trembled slightly as he told her what he'd always longed to tell her. "Because I love you." She opened her mouth slightly, something he couldn't identify in her eyes. "I love you." he repeated, then leaned down slowly and kissed her lips.

She was going to hate him for this, or at least think he was crazy. That was the one thing rushing through his head as he pulled away. Asajj's icy eyes were wide, but not with horror. She was trying to take all of this in. She'd known Obi-wan cared what happened to her, never quite knowing why. She'd danced on the brink of knowing, almost feeling the answer, but now she knew. The assassin, for the first time in her life, knew she was loved. By Obi-wan. Just taking it in was difficult, and she struggled to say something to him. Afterward she would realize that the answer was as easy as "I love you too." But that thought didn't come, and she instead said what she first thought of.

"You broke the code."

"I don't care anymore. I broke the blasted code the minute... the minute I started feeling something for you." Obi-wan helped her up, for once not looking at all embarrassed. He was too caught up in the moment, in finally admitting it, in saving her life. He had turned away from her now, gazing off in thought. "We could go back to the Twilight and I'll distract Anakin while you escape. But then I'm afraid I'll have to take you prisoner again." He turned back to glance at his beloved, smiling slightly.

"My dear Obi-wan," she whispered, drawing a bit closer, "I'm all yours." But this time, she didn't just offer him her wrists. She half threw herself on him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and bringing her lips to his- hard. Obi-wan stood stupidly for maybe half a second before he wrapped his arms around her, bringing her closer, and kissed her back.

Asajj's mind grew blank, and her only remaining thought was "Oh, Force, we're kissing." And, "Oh, Force, I love this. I love him." She crooked her head to the side slightly; her bare back tingled where his hands touched her. About to die or not, nothing could get them apart. Nothing, that is, except Anakin.

"Master? Master?" His voice came from right behind her.

**Sorry it's so short, and soryy it is, once again, a cliffhanger. very much so. I mean, can you imagine Anakin's face, seeing Ventress with her lips all over his master? well, I will tell you what happens... in the next chapter! mwahahaha!**


	15. Chapter 14: I did NOT just see that!

**ok, so here's what happens next... this one's also a bit short, but theres not too much more to add. **

**also, I've decided to list reveiwers next chapter, so you still have a chance to reveiw! well, the real reason is cuz I'm lazy right now, but don't tell anyone XP**

**oh, yes, and Ahsoka gets a little treat at the end!**

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Chapter 14

Asajj whirled, ripping from Kenobi, expecting to see Skywalker. How did she explain this? Pure panic surged through her, until she realized a half second after Obi-wan did that Skywalker's voice was coming from the communicator on Obi-wan's wrist.

"Yes, Anakin! Good to hear from you!" Obi-wan lied. It was most certainly not a good time to hear from Anakin right now.

"We're just about finished with the droids here." Obi-wan could hear slashing and blasting in the background, and Ahsoka yelled "Stupid rolling droid thingies of death!"

"That's good." muttered Obi-wan, his mind still reeling.

"Did you find Ventress?" Such a question. Such an ironic question. He risked one glance towards her before he answered.

"Yes."

"And is she… you know, alive?"

"Yes."

"Well it's all good then. We just have a few more death ball thingers…"

Ahsoka interrupted to yell, "It's stupid rolling droid thingies of death, Master! Get it right!"

"Yeah. What she said." Anakin paused, then resumed brightly. "Anyway, we'll meet you back at the ship in, say, five minutes? And bring Ventress!" The connection cut off, and Obi-wan glanced at Asajj.

"Now what?" he asked, using the same hopeless tone she had only a few moments before.

She shrugged. "Now you take me prisoner. Then we go back to the ship."

"What about…" Kenobi broke off and sighed. "I don't want to." Those words summed up everything. They couldn't do what they wanted. There were rules. There were things they didn't want to do, and had to. And right now, he had to lead her to her death. They walked through the hallways in silence.

"Wait. Handcuffs." Obi-wan said right before they walked into the hanger. She'd already left her lightsabers behind, so it didn't matter. But it was another thing he had to do.

"Master Kenobi! I beat Ana- I mean, my master at killing stupid rolling droid thingies of death!" Ahsoka's bright cheery tone seemed so out of place.

"Only because I was on the communicator." Anakin pointed out, before taking a second look at his master. "Do you feel okay? You look kinda… I don't know, down."

"It's nothing Anakin. Let's just… let's go home." Obi-wan brushed between Anakin and Ahsoka, Ventress following him. The other two Jedi glanced at eachother after he'd gone, both wondering the same thing: 'What's wrong with him?"

Obi-wan stood near Asajj the whole flight. Though neither said anything, there was a simple comfort in just being near to eachother. Even that was taken soon, when two clones led her away, and their only goodbye was the brush of hands as he handed her over. He spent the rest of the afternoon pacing nervously. He'd already tried to visit her, but there was a guard outside her cell. And they were going to execute her tomorrow. He'd never see her again.

The door slid open, and Anakin strode in. "Master, are you sure you're okay?"

"Not now Anakin."

"You're busy pacing and worrying. So will you just tell me what's on your mind, and maybe I can help?"

"There's nothing you can do Anakin. There's nothing anyone can do."

"Just tell me what's blasted wrong!"

"Anakin!"

"There's no reason to get snippy. I'll have to call you Snips instead of Ahsoka."

"Please, just…" Obi-wan rubbed his forehead, as though it could help him concentrate.

"You've got no reason to be upset. Aayla and Rex are a couple, Ahsoka did great destroying droids, we captured Asajj Ventress…"

"Anakin, I'm having a crisis and you're not helping!" he snarled, whirling on his apprentice.

"Fine, jeez, I'll leave, Grumpypants. Oh yeah, and you're in charge of bringing Ventress to the execution room tomorrow." Anakin left, and would have slammed the door if it hadn't been automatic. A grin spread over Obi-wan's face. He was in charge of bringing Ventress. This meant he'd be alone with her. And if she got away, no one would think it too odd.

"Thank you, Anakin." He muttered to himself.

The next morning, Asajj was delighted to find Obi-wan standing at her cell door. He took one of her arms and escorted her down one of the long, winding hallways of the Jedi temple. Obi-wan had come. She didn't know how, but he had come. Her heart was beating rapidly, suddenly remembering yesterday. Had it really been only yesterday?

Finally, they stopped around a bend in the hallway which had, once again, forcefield windows along the curved outer side. A door stood right in the middle of the hallway, blocking anyone else from finding them. Perfect. Obi-wan carefully removed the handcuffs from her wrists, and then met her eyes for the first time.

"How do I let you escape without making it too obvious?" He smiled, another first for today.

"I could disarm you." She used the Force to pull his lightsaber from his belt to her hand and ignite it. "Now you're completely defenseless." Asajj gave him one of the smirks she saved especially for him, blue blade illuminating her face.

"That's not fair…" he teased, leaning a bit closer to her. A certain light shone in his eyes as well, and it wasn't from the saber.

"All's fair in love and war," she said softly, "And we're caught in both." Ventress, too, had leaned a bit closer.

"Too true," he conceded in a whisper, "And I wouldn't trade the former for anything." He was now so close she could feel his breath on her face. Just like she'd felt it yesterday, when he'd leaned down…

"Kiss me, Kenobi." she commanded, still in a whisper. They were the words he was waiting for.

"Willingly." was the last thing he got out before he did just that. They kissed softly, his arms winding around her and drawing her in closer. She draped her arms over his shoulders, dropping his still-ignited lightsaber, which hit the floor with a thump, rolled a bit, and then lay there humming. Asajj's mind drifted far off, all thoughts of escaping gone, replaced by how this was Obi-wan, and she finally had him, and it was what she wanted all along. Obi-wan too was lost in thoughts and emotions, so much so that neither of them heard the footsteps on the other side of the door.

They jumped away from eachother as the door hissed open, but they were too late. Ahsoka stood in the door way, gaping at them, mouth open slightly. She looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't quite.

"Ahsoka…" Obi-wan croaked, but there was no way to finish it. The only sound came from the lightsaber, still ignited on the floor, humming.

"What… Am I missing something here?" Ahsoka finally stumbled out.

"No, it's just… it's just…" More humming. Asajj stood silent.

"How long have you been a traitor, Master Kenobi?" Ahsoka asked darkly.

"It's not like that. I'm not with the seperatists!" he protested.

"Yeah, right. I just saw you lip to lip with her! You expect me to believe you were just giving her a goodbye-about-to-die kiss? You were gonna let her go if I hadn't stopped you!"

Asajj by this time had been snapped back to reality. She grabbed the lightsaber on the floor, force-pulling it to her hand. Ahsoka ignited her own green blade, but she was far too late. Asajj had already shut down the forcefield generator and leapt out the window, just as she had last time, letting Obi-wan's saber drop back to the floor. He hastily picked it up, turned it off, and clipped it to his belt.

Ahsoka looked up at him. "You're in a lot of trouble Master Kenobi."

"Not if you don't tell," he answered hastily.

"Ok, 'Negotiator' time for a bit of bargaining. I don't tell the counsel. I don't put any of this in _Temple Gossip. _And you tell me every juicy detail about you and Ventress!" She brightened for the last sentence, looking quite excited about the whole thing.

It really wasn't that bad of a deal. It would be much worse for everyone to know a fraction of the story then for Ahsoka to know all of it. Of course, she'd tell Barriss, but at least he trusted Barriss to keep her mouth shut. "Alright," he sighed, "It's a deal."

**I bet you thought Anakin was behind her didn't you? I gotcha! you should have seen your faces! No seriously, what did your face look like, because I can't see it through the computer. but now ahsoka knows... how long until more people know? like... COUNT DOOKU? um, yeah, a bit of a teaser there. anyway, reveiw please!**


	16. Chapter 15: Are all Padawans this nuts?

**Long time no write, eh? (sorry, I just took a trip to Canada, eh?) Obi-wan's being pestered to death by padwans... and I've decided to make them VERY over the top, just so youre warned. Oh, and for Jar-jar haters, have no fear. Jar-jar will NOT be an important part of this story, he only appears once and has like one line. This is the third-to-last f the odd pairings I'll be introducing. I have a few more people to hook up before this is over ;)**

**In case you've forgotten, I don't own, eh?**

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Chapter 15

The funny thing about the temple was that you could walk from a council meeting to Ahsoka's room and encounter quite a few interesting people. Master Mindi shot him a dirty look; he obviously thought Obi-wan was stupid for letting Asajj get away. Master Luminara Unduli patted his shoulder and said "They'll stop being mad eventually." And of course, Master Yoda.  
"Understand, I do." The short Jedi smiled as he spoke.

"Master?" Obi-wan asked questioningly.

"Want her alive, you do, Kenobi. No redemption, there is, for one already killed." The wise master did understand, at least somewhat.

"Yes, Master Yoda." Obi-wan admitted softly.

"Tell the others, I will not. But let your weakness put you at risk, you should not." With these final words, Master Yoda walked off, leaning against his cane for support.

Ahsoka shot him a look and waited until Yoda was out of earshot before continuing. "So, yesterday was when you first kissed her?"

Obi-wan sighed. She'd already asked this at least three times. "Yes. I thought she might die, and I kissed her."

"What did you say to her? I mean, you guys are like, enemies. It's just weird."

"I said I loved her. And… and then she kissed me back." He felt his heart melt a bit as he remembered that.

"That. Is. So. CUTE!" squealed Ahsoka. Obi-wan's eyes widened as several people looked over at her, and she winced. "Sorry. Forgot about all the people. Once we get to my apartment you can tell me everything!" Poor Obi-wan sighed again, but Ahsoka didn't notice. "And Barriss! You have to tell Barriss!" she exclaimed as they reached her door. But before either of them could open it, it opened on its own. There, in the doorway, stood a battle droid.

"Um, hello Master Jedi. I don't think we've met." It droned, looking at Obi-wan. Obi-wan stared for a moment before he looked over at Ahsoka.

"Erm, Ahsoka? Why is there a battle droid in your room?" Ahsoka gave him a nervous smile.

"Heh heh, there's several actually. This here is the housecleaner, his name is Droidy, and you can tell because of the purple nail polish I put on his arm. See?" She pointed to a stripe of purple on the droids beige arm.

"yes, but how…"

"And I also have two that help with making the magazine, 'cause Barriss and I were running behind. They're called Droido and Droid. And then there's poor Droida. I was trying to make him into a cook, but he burns stuff. And spills stuff. And he can't even make pudding right. But he's learning! I think…"

"Interesting," said Obi-wan, trying not to panic. "But how did they get here?"

"I rescued them!" she exclaimed, walking into her apartment, Droidy following behind her like a faithful dog. "They were on Mustafar, and they almost fell in the lava! But I used the force when Anakin wasn't looking to lift them from midair into our ship!" Ahsoka explained dramatically, using wild gestures and expressions. Then her face fell. "Master Kenobi, could you maybe not tell Anakin? I mean, I don't think the council would care, but Anakin… He hates battle droids."

"Sure. But how did you reprogram all of them?" '_And why are they not afraid of you'?_ he thought.

"Anakin!" she laughed. "He taught me without even knowing it! Master Shaak was asking how to make a moody second-hand R2 unit behave, and Anakin showed her how to reset its programing so that it started fresh and she could teach it to behave. And that's what I did to all of them; they treat me as their master now, and they're so nice! And pretty funny. They say funny stuff without even realizing it. I wonder where Barriss is." Ahsoka stated all this in one breath, then gasped in air as though she couldn't get enough of it.

With that, the door opened, and Ahsoka's normally calm friend raced in. "AHSOKA!" Barriss squealed happily as she grabbed the younger Padawan by the shoulders.

"Barriss, have you been following in Anakin's footsteps with the caffeine?" Ahsoka asked.

"No. But guess what happened!"

"The council decided to allow attachments?" Ahsoka sounded bored by the prospect.

"No! Better! Guess who just asked me on a date!" she squeaked, so far taking no notice of Obi-wan.

"who?"

"The most adorable guy in the history of the world!" Barriss let go of ahsoka's shoulders and danced around the room, almost smacking into a droid holding a plate of very charred toast.

"Just spit out the name already!" demanded Ahsoka, but Barriss took no notice.

"He's perfect! He's the one for me I know it!"

"That was what you said about the Twi'lik Padawan."

"But he's a _representative!_ Not just another Padawan!

"For crying out loud tell me who!" Ahsoka half-yelled, then noticed the droid. "Oh, thank you SO much, Droida!" she remarked, sounding not unlike a Jedi master telling a youngling how much they loved the popsicle-stick-glue-bead-glue-paper-glue-string-glue-and-even-more-glue creation. Ahsoka took one of the toast pieces and nibbled a corner. "It's _so_ delicious." She swallowed the charred food and attempted a smile.

"You're welcome." said the droid, turning around and walkng away. He didn't, however, watch where he was going, and he smashed into the still-dancing Barriss, sending the plate of toast flying through the air. Droidy raced over and attempted to clean the toast up, but he was having a bit of trouble picking it up. Droida joined him, and together they made powdered charred toast mess all over the floor.

"Jar-jar Binks!" announced Barriss, oblivious to the mess the droids were making. "He's the most adorable, wonderful Gun-gun _ever!"_

"Jar-jar?" asked Obi-wan curiously.

"You know him?" Barriss stopped dancing around and looked at the older Jedi for the first time.

"Yes, he's a good friend of Padme's, and I saved his life once, on Naboo."

"Isn't he _wonderful?_" She began twirling around dreamily again.

"Barriss! Master Kenobi is here to tell us about something so romantic I think you'll die!" Ahsoka interjected, and Obi-wan cursed under his breath. He'd been hoping she'd forget about his story.

"Tell me," demanded Barriss.

"Erm, I kissed Asajj Ventress." Obi-wan blushed slightly. He hated telling people about private events, but Barriss was not satisfied with this measly explanation.

"Tell. Me. _Everything_."

It was quite a bit later that Obi-wan managed to escape the Padawans, who begged him to retell every "juicy", (Ahsoka's word) "romantic" (Barriss's word) detail.

The next few days were very much the same. With no missions to let him escape the temple, he was surrounded by people. Annoyed people, sympathetic people, the Padawans, and Anakin, who was in a class all his own.

"How on Corausant did she get away this time?" demanded Skywalker, pacing the archives furiously. Obi-wan, reading various files from the library, attempted to ignore him.

"She's a very slippery one."

"We almost had her. She was almost _killed!"_ he pounded one fist on the table for emphasis. Several people in other areas of the room made 'shhhh!' noises at him, and he lowered his voice. "And she escaped us again. Well, it won't happen next time. We'll have guards. Jedi Masters. We'll have… What are you doing?" the younger Jedi had noticed his Master's occupation for the first time.

Obi-wan hurriedly closed the Asajj Ventress's file, which he'd been reading. And re-reading. And re-reading. "Nothing, Padawan."

"I'm not your Padawan. And I guess you're right." Anakin sat down at another data station. "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." He began scrolling through Asajj's profile as well, and Obi-wan guessed he _wasn't_ daydreaming about her, as he himself had been doing earlier. And in a way, Anakin was right as well. He'd been closer to Asajj then he'd ever been with anyone else. _Force,_ he had to stop all this daydreaming.

"Run, I believe you should." Master Yoda's voice came from behind him.

"What's that, Master?"

"Coming, they are." The short master began walking slowly out of the archives. "The Padawans. Searching for you, they are."

"Blast it." Obi-wan darted away from Ahsoka and Barriss, headed straight for the hanger. He couldn't take hanging around here anymore. He jumped into his personal starfighter and took off, leaving the streets of Corausant behind. He knew exactly where he was headed.

On the banks of a river in Naboo was the most amazing resort. The small cabins were spread far apart across the resort, the beach was picturesque, the forests were perfect for wandering through, and the meadows were perfect for stargazing. It was, in short, Jedi paradise. Jedi were constantly there, as it was only on Naboo, and so peaceful and quiet. Plus, the owner, a strong supporter of the Jedi, let them wander the grounds for free, and gave them discount rates on the cabins. Most importantly, it had a coffee house. There were _always_ Jedi in the coffee house.

Obi-wan, however, never made it there. His ship suddenly slowed to a halt in the middle of space. "Oh, blast, what now?" he muttered, glancing down at the control panel. Engines working, plenty of fuel, so what was up? He pushed the accelerator forward, but instead found himself being pulled backwards, straight into the open hanger or a large separatist cruiser. _Tracter beam. _Obi-wan sank back in his seat and waited as he was pulled in. The door to the hanger closed. Suddenly there were about a dozen battle droids surrounding him, spraying the exterior of his starfighter with something… He was very tired. Must be poisonous… very tired… Kenobi dozed off.

"_Obi-wan? Darling? I'll be back as soon as Dooku leaves." Soft hands brushed his face. He must be hallucinating. Ventress couldn't be here. It was too much of a coincidence… His mind was still groggy. It was hard to comprehend anything. "Just a little longer my sweet. I'll come."_

The Jedi awoke in a metal cell, hands chained to the wall a little ways above his head. His first thought was that he was desperately thirsty. He'd give almost anything for water right now, even his lightsaber. Which was conveniently missing. And his dream, or hallucination, or reality. Everything was muddled. He slowly pulled himself into a sitting position, wincing. Everything hurt. Finally his eyes adjusted to the dark, and he saw the slim form above him. _Ventress. _Was she mad, risking Dooku catching her here? The dream drifted back to his mind. _"I'll come."_

"It was real." He choked, voice rough. "You're here."

"Of course I am. Did you expect me to leave you here?" Suddenly something was on his lips, and he gulped thirstily. Water. She waited until he'd finished before she began working on his handcuffs. Her hands moved from his wrists to his shoulders, turning him to look right at her. "You have no idea how close you are to dying. I had to beg, _beg, _Dooku to let you live a little longer. I said I wanted to…" She stopped for a shaky breath, "torture you first. As if I ever could. It hurts seeing you like this."

It burst again into his dizzy mind how much she cared. She'd always hated him. Sort of. But now here she was, risking her life to get him away from here. Lying to Dooku was no small thing.

"Get up." She told him softly.

"I can't yet."

"You have to, Obi-wan. You have to be able to walk to the hanger."

He slowly heaved himself up, shaking slightly. "Happy?"

"Not yet I'm not. Not until you're safely out of here."

"Well then, let's go." He started slowly towards the door, still rather lightheaded, but she stopped him.

"Wait." Seeing the questioning raised eyebrow, she hastily explained, "I just need to say that," she paused, "That I love you too."

"You did kiss me right after. And the next day. I think I sort of figured it out." Obi-wan cracked a smile.

"I suppose, but I just wanted to tell you that." She looked almost… embarrassed.

"Well, I'm glad you did." A quick smile passed between them, then they set off up a corridor. There was no more time to waste. Most of the obstacles they encountered were easily passed. The Force was flowing through him more strongly now, making everything easier. Only once did Asajj have to save him.

He was easily dodging the bullets shot by the dozen or so battle droids, slamming them into walls, when he was slammed back himself and found a super battle droid staring down at him stupidly, gun pressed against his chest. Within a fraction of a second, a red lightsaber sliced its arm right off.

"You shouldn't have done that. If Dooku finds saber marks…"

She shrugged. "Getting you out is more important. And he's not going to look closely at the broken droids."

He actually got his own ship back. Dooku wouldn't like that. But more importantly was that if Dooku found out about Asajj. He wanted her to come with him, but she outright refused, saying that would only get both of them into more trouble. Safely back at the resort, Obi-wan slept.

**TRUE STORY: I put nail polish on a lego battle droid to tell him apart from all my brother's droids. Yes, he's the inspiration for Droidy. Yes, Asajj is in DEEEEP trouble. Yes, you must reveiw to read the following preview:  
Up next, Obi-wan receives contact from Count Dooku himself, and Padme takes a few things into her own hands in order to get Obi-wan out of hot water, eh? (I'm sorry. I really am, eh?)**


	17. Chapter 16: Come and get the lovely bait

**! I hope you like the chapter though! Contains some mild Cody-bashing, because I needed another clone to be crazy. I picture all the clones referring to eachother as "dude" when there aren't any Jedi around. Maybe I'm way off the mark on that, but that's how I see 'em.**

**Also, plenty of Obi/Ventress goodness! That's my favorite to write, although when I re-read what I've wrote, I usually enjoy the Ahsoka and Anakin arguing portions the most. I'll try to have a little more of them in the next chapter :3**

* * *

Chapter 16

"It appears that Kenobi has escaped us."

"I'll kill him next time. He won't have time to get his saber out, I'll kill him." Ventress snarled, fists clenched in anger.

Dooku was dangerously calm. "How do you suppose he escaped us?"

"I don't know. How?"

"Well, once out, it appears that he managed to kill any battle droids simply relying on the force."

"We'll have to drug him up next time. Only I'll have killed him before he can escape, so it won't matter."

Dooku ignored her. "And do you know what was found among those battle droids?"

Ventress swallowed nerously. Her master was very intimidating in person, and here she was, possibly caught. "What?"

"A mark from a lightsaber. Isn't that interesting?" Dooku moved towards her a little, and she hastily backed off, not stopping until her back hit the wall of the frigate.

"That could be from..."

"I'm not interested in lies, Ventress. You helped him escape."

She forced down waves of fear. "I… I…"

"Silent. I'll explain what will happen here." To her surprise, his gloved hand shot out and caught her wrist, and without another word, he chained it to the wall behind her.

There was nothing left for her to do or say. Either he ran her through with a saber, tortured her beyond any hope of escaping, or tortured her until she died. She'd prefer he didn't choose that option.

"Obi-wan Kenobi will gladly come back for you, because he's a fool." Long ago, she might have thought that this would have made him a fool as well, but now Asajj believed it to be a noble sort of thing to do. Something that only Kenobi would risk doing.

"And when he comes, he will die." That was worse than hearing her own death sentence. Kenobi was just about all she lived for. Nothing must happen to him, and certainly not at her fault.

"No!"

He continued as though he hadn't heard her brief outburst. "I get the feeling he means something to you, and loyalties among the Jedi are a very, very bad idea." He strolled slowly back to the communicator. "I understand what it is to love someone. When I was a Jedi, I was a fool." Her Master? It seemed impossible that he was even capable of loving someone.

"Master…"

"Silence. Your only punishment will be Obi-wan's death. Hopefully you will return to your senses after he is gone." No. _No. _Kenobi had changed her in a way she hadn't expected. She wasn't the same anymore.

Dooku strode idly to the communicator. There was no need to tell his master about all this. He had handpicked Ventress as his assassin, and it would reflect poorly upon himself if Palpatine heard of this.

_"Chancelor. You have an incoming transmission." Palpatine turned wearily around in his chair to face the desk. _

_"Leave me. I wish to speak privately." The guard bowed his head slightly and left the spacious office._

_Palpatine pulled his head over his face, just in case Dooku happened to have anyone standing over his shoulder, and received the transmission._

_"Master, I wish to ask a favor of you."_

_"ask away, my apprentice." He grumbled idly._

_"Get me in contact with Obi-wan Kenobi."_

Obi-wan clawed desperately to stay safely asleep, but was dragged out by the irritating bleeping of an incoming transmission. Augh… technology. Who doesn't _love _technology? And planetary time changes, who didn't love those?

"Kenobi here," he muttered.

"Kenobi." To surprise, it was Dooku's form that projected itself into his dark room. Obi-wan hauled himself out of bed, standing up. "I notice that you're fairly well healed from your brief excursion on our vessel."

"How did you get this number?"

"You don't need to know that."

"What is it you want Dooku?" Bad enough he was woken in the middle of the night, but by a sith…

"You left a little something on our ship." Dooku extended one hand, and Obi-wan could easily see, in the holographic projection, that his saber lay in the sith's outstretched palm.

"Dooku, if you think I'm coming back for something like a saber, it's a wonder Qui-gon didn't turn out a fool. I'll make a new one."

"You left something else behind as well. Something less replaceable. Well, you could get a new one. But it wouldn't be quite the same, would it?" Kenobi's breath caught. _Ventress… _He knew he should have taken her away with him. Where to, he didn't know, but now she was most definitely in danger.

"What do you want from me, Dooku? Credits? My allegiance? Information?" _Because whatever it is, I'll get it._

"Oh, nothing really. Just thought I'd let you know that I'll be destroying your… lightsaber. I'll give you half a standard planetary rotation to get in here and find it."

"Obi-wan, it's a trap!" Her voice screamed from somewhere in the background. "Don't come!"

"Shut up, girl." Dooku ended the transmission.

Obi-wan certainly had no choice. He was going back to find her. It was most likely the most foolhardy thing he'd ever done, and if Qui-gon was watching him now, he'd be cringing. Of course, Qui-gon would be cringing at most of his behavior over the past few weeks. He was back in his ship, Anakin's lightsaber at his side, and headed back to where he'd just escaped from before he'd even given it two minutes of thought. After all, there was nothing really to think about.

Meanwhile, Anakin wondered where the hoth he'd left his lightsaber. Not unusual, for him.

* * *

"Barriss, what do you think? Blue for the caption above Rex's head?" No reply. "Barriss!"

"Oh. Sure."

"Are you even paying _any _attention?"

"Oh. Sure."

"Barriss! You're beginning to sound like a recorded message over there!"

"Oh. Sure."

Ahsoka let out a dramatic sigh. "Just Nevermind. Forget I ever asked."

"Oh. Sure." The other Padawan replied, much to the dismay of her friend.

* * *

"REX!"

A helmeted head popped out of the door to the clone barracks. "Emergency?"

"sort of." Aayla responded. "Check out Temple Gossip." A large picture of Captain rex himself was on the cover of the magazine, and worse still, written above the picture- in blue- was the caption, "Rex and Aayla! 3" with a little heart.

Rex stared for half a second. "I swear, I'm going to kill that kid."

"Not yet you're not. _First _we have to collect magazines."

"Aayla, you're a genius." He stated simply. "But I'm not following."

"We collect up all the magazines so Mace can't read any. Because if he does…. We're sunk."

"I get it. You cover the south wing, and I'll check East Tower." Aayla nodded and headed back out.

"Hey Rex. Whatcha up to?" Cody strolled leisurely out of the barracks. Rex stared for a moment at his 'brother'.

"Have I got something on my face?" Cody broke the silence.

"Dude. I have an idea." Rex stated simply. "You go find Mace Windu."

"Why?"

"To make sure he doesn't read that magazine while Aayla and I burn all who-knows-how-many copies."

"Ok, sounds like fun."

Rex stared again. "Fun? _This _is your idea of fun?"

Cody shrugged. "Sure, dude. Like a spy mission."

"Alright, alright. Just get moving."

"Moving out, sir." He took a step back, then stopped. "You're, uh, sure there's nothing on my face?"

"Only your very noisy mouth. Get going!"

* * *

It was far too easy to stroll through the halls of this ship. Asajj was right- it was definitely a trap. Obi-wan wondered briefly if she knew that he would come for her. She'd told him not to. Was she alone, thinking that he wouldn't come, and that she would soon die without anyone caring? That thought was hard to bear, and he sprinted faster.

The Jedi skidded to a halt as he entered the largest room he'd been in so far. She must be here. Sure enough, she was against one wall, one wrist chained up. Her sabers were nowhere in sight.

"Kenobi!" she hissed under her breath, "I blasted told you _not _to come!"

"But did you really think I'd listen?" He whispered back.

"I just hoped you weren't as much of a fool as Dooku thought. This is a trap."

* * *

Meanwhile, Cody geared up for the mission of a lifetime. Dark sunglasses, tranquilizer darts, a box of cookies he'd bought from that cute teenaged girl scout, credits on a fishing line, bowling pin…

"Dude. What _are_ you doing?" Rex was back.

"Gearing up."

"Dude. You don't need all that junk. Just take him on a tour of the barracks or something stupid. Introduce him to all of our brothers. Force, read him a story or something! Just don't bring all that stuff with you."

"You do your job, dude, and let me do mine."

Rex sighed under his breath as he walked away, "Cody, you are one messed-up fruit loop." Luckily, Cody didn't hear him. He was too busy adjusting his disguise hat.

* * *

"Yes, I _know _it's a trap. I can't let Dooku kill you because of something as insignificant as a trap."

"But I'm the _bait. _He's not trying to kill me, he's trying to kill you."

"I'm worried about you."

"You worry too much."

"Maybe so." Anakin's saber was drawn, but abruptly pulled from his hand.

Dooku stood quietly behind him, the blue blade in his hand. "Ah, Kenobi. As I expected you are enough of a fool to return and face me. You are Padawan of a fool."

"If I am Padawan of a fool, that makes you the master of one." Obi-wan replied tersely, simaltaniously bluffing and stalling. Bluffing that he had some idea how to get out of this situation, stalling because he didn't really.

"Yes. Qui-gon was indeed a fool, and there was nothing I could do to fix it. Now I am the master of yet another fool." He shot Ventress a scathing glance. She cringed.

"Perhaps we're all fools, then Dooku. I suppose you find everyone who ever shows a bit of compassion as _weak, _and foolish." Yet more stalling.

"Perhaps it's time we begin to fight." Dooku snarled.

"I'm unarmed. You wouldn't want to attack…" Obi-wan had begun backing away, "Someone unarmed, would you? I didn't think you'd sink so low."

"Your _negotiations _won't work on me. Nor will your _charm," _he sneered, "As it did on that one." Another nod towards Asajj.

"But now is," he swallowed, still backing away, "A great time to negotiate. Negotiations would be lovely right now!" He kept backing up. Dooku still advanced, menacing, Anakin's saber held out…

* * *

"Heeeeey, Master Windu!" Mace turned away from the window as a clone approached him. Yellow armor with markings of a captain, dark glasses, crew cut, armload of weird stuff- definitely Cody.

"Hello, Cody."

"Say, would like a complimentary tour of the barracks?"

Mace gave him a weird look. "No, not really."

"Are you sure? It's completely free, and it comes with refreshments." Cody held out the box of cookies temptingly.

"I'll pass on that, Cody." Mace turned away from the window, headed off down the hall, when something caught his eye on a coffee table…

"Hey! Wait, there's _more! _You also get this bowling pin, these hair clips, and a ten credit bill. Interested?"

"What on Corausant would I do with _hair clips?_" Mace muttered under his breath, still walking towards the table to see what it was that had caught his eye.

Cody was starting to panic. Distract Mace… at all costs… "Here read this!" He yelled abruptly, shoving a copy of _Temple Gossip _under the Jedi master's nose.

"What the… Rex and Aayla? Let me see this…" Mace swiped the magazine and began to read it intently.

At that moment, Rex and Aayla themselves entered, Rex weighed down by an armload of magazines. "I think this is the last room." Aayla told him. It was then that she was Windu. "Oh no…"

"Cody!" Rex yelled. He dropped the magazines, which hit the floor with a thud. "I told you to distract him!"

"He's distracted. See? Mission accomplished."

Mace looked up from the magazine, his gaze landing on Aayla. "Master Secura…? Is this true?"

Aayla shuffled her feet awkwardly. "See, um…"

"Cody, do something!" Rex yelled.

Cody did something alright. He stabbed Master Windu's arm with a tranquilizer dart. The master hit the floor with an even louder thud than the magazines had made, hands still loosely holding the copy of _Temple Gossip_.

"Oh. Force." Aayla squeeked. "We are so totally cleaning the cafeteria tonight."

Rex nodded. "And the next night. And the next night…"

* * *

"In fact, there's never a better time for negotiations than…" Obi-wan tripped, stumbled on his own feet. His back hit a wall. The Jedi was cornered, with no way of defending himself. Dooku raised the blue saber high.

At that moment, a large frying pan decended over Dooku's head with a metal _clang! _Dooku wavered on the spot for a moment, then passed out and fell over, joining Mace Windu in dreamland.

Startled, Obi-wan got back to his feet. Ventress, one hand still chained to the wall, was grinning cheekily. "You did that." He stated, her smile starting to feel quite contagious.

Ventress picked the pan back up with a lazy Force wave of her hand and placed it back on the table. "Indeed I did. Didn't think it'd be so easy as that to save your life."

Obi-wan pulled the saber out of the sith's grasp, strode across the room, and sliced the cuff off Ventress's wrist. "Why is there a frying pan in here, anyway?"

She shrugged. "Who knows? Who cares?"

"So that's, what, the third time you've saved me?"

"You've saved me dozens more times."

"That, my dear, is an exaggeration."

"That's not the point. I'd be dead many times over without you. I owe you."

"Well I hope that's not the _only _reason you keep rescuing me."

She gave him the tiniest hint of a laugh. "No, Kenobi. I keep rescuing you because, as I believe I mentioned yesterday, I love you. I believe I'm also quite behind on kissing you, which is an absolute outrage and will not be tolerated."

"I'm not sure you're _quite _behind, I think I'm only ahead by one because of the other day when-"

"So shut up so I can kiss you." She edged a little closer. Obi-wan made no attempt to get away.

"I wasn't aware shutting up was mandatory."

"If you want me to kiss you, then yes."

"I very much want that."

"Then shut up." There was not another word from Obi-wan as Asajj leaned in and kissed him.

The pair began wrapping their arms around eachother, still joined at the lips. Both were completely oblivious to the fact that Dooku was stirring.

The sith sat up, took one glance at what his apprentice was doing, and passed back out, all before Jedi and assassin broke apart.

**Ah, poor Dooku. Completely traumatized by the sight of his apprentice and General Kenobi~**


End file.
